I asked if patients ever seem to have trouble examining themselves, or if she ever feels like she can’t trust what they report to her. “You have to trust the patient,” she said, explaining that even during an in-person consult a physician is trusting the patient to accurately describe how he or she feels, or their medical history. The physician-patient communication is always the most important thing, she said, online or off.
The fact that Dr. Antall was in a two-inch square on my smartphone screen didn’t take away from that communication. I was able to make eye contact, and she wasn’t distracted by entering information into an electronic medical record — maybe because I wasn’t conveying any medical information, but most likely because she was already looking at a computer.
It was also incredibly convenient. I was connected to Dr. Antall within two minutes of downloading the app, and realized it was something I could do anywhere — at least anywhere I was comfortable self-examining my throat or stomach. Dr. Antall said the convenience is what most patients appreciate the most. “I’ve had patients who were obviously pulled over at the side of the road who told me they were going to go to the emergency room but then thought of me,” she said. “Then I could tell them they didn’t need to spend five hours in the ER.”
I enjoyed speaking with Dr. Antall, and felt I had built a rapport with her from our brief conversation. Though, when I logged into the app later I noticed she wasn’t available. I know that had Dr. Antall taken notes or updated my record in American Well, the next physician would be able to access them, and even if for some reason he or she couldn’t, a sinus infection probably doesn’t require extensive medical history to diagnose.
Telemedicine like American Well is designed not to replace in-person physician visits and the relationships that develop between patients and their caregivers, but to solve the problem of long emergency department waits and overcrowded physician offices. And I think it will succeed.
