Telehealth Appointments: What to Expect During a Virtual Visit | Temple Health

Telehealth appointments with a Temple Health specialist are very effective, and are safe and convenient for patients. Find out what your doctor can do through a telehealth appointment.

Schedule a telehealth appointment with a Temple specialist by calling 800-TEMPLE-MED (800-836-7536).

Learn more about telehealth appointments: https://bit.ly/2XUFeqs

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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

EMAN HAMAD: Good morning. Dr. Hamad from Temple. How are you?
PATIENT: Hey, good morning, Dr. Hamad, how you doing?
EMAN HAMAD: Very good, thank you.

ERIC VELAZQUEZ: So I see on your record that you've been experiencing some abdominal pain. Do you mind telling me a little bit what's going on?
PATIENT: I've been experiencing some pain on my right side —

ERIC VELAZQUEZ: I think there are a lot of benefits for patients using telehealth. You can schedule appointments at the patient's convenience. Sometimes transportation is an issue. Sometimes finding that adequate time for that appointment can be a hassle for patients.

PATIENT: I've had one heart attack already. It was like a year and a half to two years ago —

EMAN HAMAD: The patient can be sitting in the safety of their own home and have an appointment with their physician at any time. And also, their family members can be involved, which is very important for care for these patients.

EMAN HAMAD: At this point, we'll do the workup that we need to do. We'll optimize your medications —

In regards to new patient visits, telehealth is a great way to set the stage of understanding of what the disease process is, what is going on with the patient, and deciding what the next steps are as far as testing and evaluation the disease process.

ERIC VELAZQUEZ: So Ms. Gordon, some of the tests that I will order to try to determine if it's your gallbladder giving you this pain —

As we're having this telehealth interaction, we can review the medical record, go over your past medical history, go over your past surgical history. So we're really able to establish a relationship with that new patient.

EMAN HAMAD: Telehealth really has no limits. All different kind of specialties can be seen through telehealth. Fortunately, we're able to ask all the questions we want, whether you're a cardiologist, or a pulmonologist, or a neurologist.

Do you mind if I can take a look at your legs? Maybe you could put the phone and just see if there's any swelling, if you could press —

Specialist appointments via telehealth are very effective, so whether you're seeing a cardiologist or a pulmonologist or a neurologist, they are able to assess you through looking at the screen, being able to assess how you're breathing,
how you're responding to questions, even questions about physical exams, looking at your joints, looking at movement problems.

ERIC VELAZQUEZ: You can stand up and just point with one finger and show me where the pain is —

For myself in general surgery, sometimes we can narrow down, if you're having abdominal pain, what portion of your abdomen you're experiencing this pain, and we could see that through a telehealth encounter.

In the meantime, though, I want you to be very selective of what you eat. Stay away from those bad meals —

In my own practice, the positive feedback has been tremendous. Our patients really enjoy the convenience of the telehealth appointment.

Thank you so much. You're welcome and you have a great day.