Brockton doctors switch to telemedicine in the age of coronavirus - Enterprise News

BROCKTON — The doctor will see you now, except through video conferencing or over the phone.

Hospitals and medical centers in the city have switched to telehealth in response to the coronavirus. Patients can talk with doctors about routine ailments or potential symptoms of COVID-19 without having to come to an office.

"A lot of them like being able to talk with their providers in the comfort of their own home where they feel safe,” said Dr. David Mudd, a primary care physician for Good Samaritan Medical Center.

Telehealth has enabled doctors to maintain continuity of care and help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

We can deliver news just like this directly to your inbox. You can sign up for This Just In (a daily 7:30 p.m. newsletter with items we've posted that day), News Alerts (so you don't miss anything important) and more. It's customized to your preferences -- and it'll only take a few seconds.

Health providers don’t want patients to have to go into the community and put themselves at risk if there are options like telehealth, said Sue Joss, president and CEO of Brockton Neighborhood Health Center.

"We're looking at every type of visit and seeing if we can do it by televisit,” she said.

Patients experiencing an emergency situation like a heart attack or stroke should still visit the emergency department.

Dr. Jane Yu, a family practice physician with Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, said telemedicine has proven to be a useful tool to connect with patients.

“They like to maintain that connection and see each other face to face,” she said.

The use of telemedicine has been mostly restricted to rural geographic areas or for people with certain conditions, Yu said, but since the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services eased some of the rules, other doctors have been able to conduct visits using the technology.

(Editor's note: This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Enterprise.)

Since telehealth appointments have begun, she was able to look at a person’s rash and diagnose it as a skin infection and another’s rash as shingles.

Mudd and his office of five physicians started using telehealth last week.

He has been able to work with many patients, including a man who injured his leg and worried he had a blood clot. He was able to look at the patient’s leg and see a black and blue streak, which turned out to be a torn muscle and swelling.

Mudd’s focus is on internal medicine, which means he tends to work with older patients with complicated conditions. Some have had up to eight or nine different issues they've discussed over telehealth.

Working with older patients has also come with some difficulties using video conferencing technology, Mudd said, but family members have been able to help them set up or have lent them devices for the telehealth appointment.

There are some medical situations that can’t be handled over video or phone, like lab work, seeing a pregnant woman for an exam, diagnosing an ear infection or giving immunization shots, doctors said.

In addition to check ups and routine ailments, some telehealth visits have focused on COVID-19, doctors say. Patients have called in wondering if their cough, fever or shortness of breath is related to the virus.

Physicians have found ways to assess a person’s breathlessness without coming in for a lung exam, like by listening to how a person is breathing and asking questions about how their condition has changed, Yu said.

Mudd said telehealth has made a difference to triage patients experiencing respiratory symptoms that aren’t likely a result of COVID-19 and divert them from the emergency room.

"You're keeping someone out of the emergency room and needless COVID-19 testing,” he said.

Doctors had to triage potential cases last week when test kits were scarce, said Mudd, who has also worked in emergency medicine.

Reducing the strain on the emergency room doesn’t just help healthcare workers at Good Samaritan, but those working in emergency rooms around the country, like his son, who is a medical resident at New York Presbyterian Hospital and is working on the frontlines.

"We're doing what we can at this point to keep things going,” Mudd said.

Staff writer Mina Corpuz can be reached at mcorpuz@enterprisenews.com. Follow her on Twitter @mlcorpuz

https://ift.tt/2X5LdsW