Dr Maimoona Azhar
Founder & CEO, Telegenz
Remote patient or client assessment is a different skill set in its own right. Sooner or later, all curricula will have to adapt to incorporate training on systems, security and etiquette involved in virtual services.
As a concept, telehealth — a remote medical consultation between a patient and their healthcare provider over video-conferencing technology — is more than two decades old. It’s just a shame that it took us a global pandemic to unleash its full potential, says Dr Maimoona Azhar, Founder & CEO of Telegenz, a purpose-built telehealth skills training platform.
Benefits of telehealth and remote consultation
“A number of skilled professionals – women and men, step back from full-time jobs due to family or health reasons while they could happily provide quality patient care for few hours a day, from the comfort of their homes. Therefore, telehealth is hugely beneficial for patients and healthcare professionals,” says Dr Azhar. “It has the ability to resolve workforce shortages, increase staff productivity, improve medical access for those in remote areas and cut down on patients’ travel and waiting times. There are a number of telehealth solutions available to facilitate all of these outcomes. When in the hands of well-trained staff, the result is a more efficient healthcare service, which inspires greater satisfaction among patients and clinicians.”
Remote patient assessment is a skill set in its own right, explains Dr Azhar. “The healthcare provider needs to ensure that the patient on screen is being assessed properly and satisfied with the advice they are being given, otherwise, they may not use the service again. Training healthcare providers with the right telehealth skills is therefore extremely important.”
The healthcare provider needs to ensure that the patient on screen is being assessed properly and satisfied with the advice they are being given, otherwise, they may not use the service again.
Assessing communication and decision-making skills in real time
Dr Azhar’s platform gives medical students and postgraduate trainees, in various healthcare disciplines, the chance to engage with consenting patients, while experienced clinicians assess their communication, remote clinical assessment and decision-making skills in real time. These skills will enable them to effectively use any Telehealth service, that may be in use at their work place. Institutions or training bodies can use their own content and this innovative platform can be customized to their training needs. The platform can also be customised for the training needs of non-clinical institutions, including schools of business, law, engineering, arts and those offering lifelong learning courses and corporate training for company employees.
“The same issues that apply to clinicians can also apply to lawyers and business people who are offering their services virtually,” says Dr Azhar. “They must know how to structure video calls properly and read the body language of the clients they are talking to on-screen in order to complete a productive and successful virtual consultation. If they can do that, then their clients will be satisfied, employers will be happy — and everybody wins.”