Telemedicine

ARD (German public TV, Channel One) did a piece last night on telemedicine, which has finally reached a point of acceptance with the medical community in Germany.

There was a vote over in Erfurt (250 local doctors), and a fairly large majority of doctors said they could now accept the idea.....so the German Medical Association is moving forward with the concept....remote treatment by phone.

Regulated?  Well....yeah, there has to be some rules to this.

Several countries in Europe are testing the idea (Switzerland and Sweden).

The plus-up of this idea?  You avoid coming into a clinic where you might end up getting infected with a cold or flu.  I have to admit....for me, this has been a major concern for over twenty years.

Avoiding the waiting business?  You still end up waiting by your laptop.....for Doctor so-and-so to hit you on Skype but it's better to wait in your living room rather than in the clinic waiting room.

Where I see this going?  I think in ten years....more than a third of all Germans will be using telemedicine.  Some attachment devices will be developed to hook up to your laptop and provide data back to the doctor to observe your 'numbers'.  For things like throat infections or pink-eye?  You will still have to go down to the doctor and have specimens taken....so you can't avoid that angle to the situation.