Telehealth During COVID-19 - Telephone Call or Video Call?
Written by Rachel Wang
Edited by Christine Yee
Jan 18, 2021
Edited by Christine Yee
Jan 18, 2021
As the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelms hospitals and poses a threat to many individuals, how can patients expect to continue receiving medical services during the COVID-19 pandemic? In a time where most of the U.S have been advised to shelter in place, electronic business platforms have been useful for online shopping, and getting products delivered straight to the doorstep. Can hospital and clinic patients do the same? Surprisingly, they can! Patients are now “seeing” doctors virtually without the need for in person visits. A recent study published on the JAMA Network showed a whopping 75 percent of doctor appointments are now being conducted via telephone calls due to shelter-in-place orders. However, this 75 percent only accounts for audio-only calls, rather than FaceTime, WhatsApp, or Google Duo. Although the number of video calls are on the rise due to community lockdown, telephone visits are still more popular among the middle aged patients.
What is causing such a high ratio of audio-calls as opposed to video-calls? According to Health Equity, 42 million people or 13 percent of the total population lack access to high-speed internet, and many individuals lack knowledge on how to operate these online apps. In addition to lack of access, some people also feel uncomfortable using video calls. While low-income and medically vulnerable families are some of the most affected groups, Mary Chris Jaklevic suggests, “telephone calls bridge the gap.”
Telephone appointment calls also have their advantages. Voice calls enable physicians to assign degrees of urgency to patients with respiratory symptoms. Dr. Julia Chen explains, “even on the telephone you can hear if someone is in some respiratory distress, if they are having trouble completing their sentences, or if they are sounding winded.” This is a unique feature of telephone visiting, since the same diagnoses cannot be made over video-calls. Moreover, telephone calls play an important role in specialty care. Dr. Glenda Wrenn, a chief medical officer, states that patients with mental health conditions are more comfortable speaking over the phone, than during face-to-face video-calls. Wrenn also highlights that she likes to let her patients hear her voice before graduating to video-calls as it may help patients overcome any reluctance toward treatment.
However, everything has its pros and cons – telephone calls for medical diagnosis have limitations as well. For those who struggle or lack access to modern laptops or smartphones, telephones are their “lifelines.” Dr. Jacqueline Fincher claims that some of her older patients in rural Georgia only have landline phones, some of which are still rotary phones. In this case, phone calls during pandemic create a “precarious time” for these patients. Furthermore, physicians are unable to notice patients’ facial and body expressions over the phone, limiting their ability to grasp patients’ emotions and understanding towards given medical instructions.
As patients have already experienced the convenience of telehealth, it is hard to imagine ending such a service after the pandemic. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has suggested lowering the costs of video call diagnoses and ending fees for phone call health services. Because telehealth has grown to become such a beneficial resource to healthcare workers and patients, it is likely here to stay even after the pandemic.
Works Cited
Jaklevic, Mary Chris. “Telephone Visits Surge During the Pandemic, but Will They Last?” JAMA, JAMA Network, 7 Oct. 2020, jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2771681.