Video conferencing is a communication method between one or more parties via the internet. For much of its history, such online meetings were made via special app platforms, requiring both parties to invest in specialized proprietary hardware and install specialized software.
The latest iteration of this mode of communication, however, allows parties to communicate via easily downloadable apps or even ordinary web browsers through the use of WebRTC standards. As a tool, video conferencing has gained traction in almost all fields, including the healthcare field. More and more medical professionals and their patients are using web conferencing for their interactions.
Given that video conferencing makes it possible to interact essentially in-person despite being geographically distant, video conferencing can be seen as the new version of house calls. Medical service providers can interact with their patients remotely, as long as both parties have a reliable internet connection. It isn’t just a matter of being able to interact across long distances. There are plenty of other benefits that come with video conferencing.
In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of video conferencing in healthcare.
#1. It Allows Healthcare Service Providers to Reach Out and Serve More People
There are plenty of benefits gained from using video conferencing in healthcare. However, the ability to reach out and serve more people than is possible under normal circumstances must be applauded. Many healthcare service providers are resource-limited, capping the number of people they can serve. For instance, being physically apart hampers the ability of healthcare service providers to meet some patients, especially ones at a distance.
Video conferencing technology is a spatial barrier breaker. By using video conferencing, healthcare service providers can meet patients who are located far away, in remote locations, or patients who are immobile and cannot visit health care facilities. Importantly, the multimedia in-person interaction allows doctors and nurses to interact with patients effectively, thereby allowing them to receive high-quality medical services.
#2. It Saves Time and Money
For doctors, traveling to see discharged patients can take up a lot of their time and it can quickly get expensive. Normally, this can be difficult to overcome if some patients live far from the doctor’s office.
By using video conferencing, physicians can reduce the cost and time wastage that comes with traveling to make house calls to patients. They can inspect how well their patients are recovering right from their home office or clinic office. This means the physicians do not have to dedicate time or spend money on travel to render “house calls.”
#3. Video Conferencing Makes Handling Emergencies Easy
There are numerous examples of cases where video conferencing was used to save a patient’s life during times of emergency, from doctors being able to diagnose a drop in oxygen saturation in their patients to doctors being able to identify the symptoms of an ailment and recommend curative steps before things get worse. Doctors have also used video conferencing to consult other experts to help them make the right decision during times of emergency.
Video conferencing is not only improving the quality of healthcare services provided, but it is also helping save lives.
#4. Video Conferencing Allows Doctors to Render Personalized Services
Another one of the many benefits of video conferencing in healthcare is that video conferencing allows doctors and other health services providers to personalize the services they render, including reaching out to and interacting “in-person” with their patients much more often than they normally would. Video conferencing technology allows patients to consult their doctors whenever necessary; depending on the set-up, patients can see their doctors pretty much on-demand. Video conferencing allows doctors to build stronger relationships with their patients, which translates to patient loyalty. Importantly, video conferencing makes this possible without necessitating hiring new staff.
The net effect of using video conferencing to communicate with patients is an improvement in patient retention, and subsequently, an improved bottom line.
#5. Video Conferencing Improves the Quality of Healthcare Services
Healthcare services are not evenly distributed across the geographical landscape. Generally, urban areas are over-served, while the rural areas have fewer healthcare services available to them. By using video conferencing, specialist healthcare service providers are in a position to serve the rural population, helping rural patients receive specialized treatment they might not have access to.
For instance, rural patients can visit smaller local clinics which may be near their homes and access specialized treatment from doctors in urban areas via web conferencing while under the guidance of the local doctors. Alternatively, doctors can use video conferencing to track the recovery progress of their patient post-discharge, ensuring patients are recovering as expected. These are just some of the many benefits of video conferencing in healthcare.
Another way in which video conferencing can improve the quality of healthcare is by providing doctors, nurses, researchers, and specialists a tool and means to collaborate effectively with regards to treating patients. Through collaboration driven by video conferencing, patients end up receiving better-quality services.
Video conferencing also helps to reduce the waiting time that patients have to endure. Patients can consult any available doctor via teleconsultation services. The patient can simply book the earliest appointment available, get a diagnosis, and, if no further tests are needed, get prescriptions for their ailment. This frees up doctors in clinics and hospitals to treat other patients with more pressing medical emergencies.
#6. Video Conferencing Provides A Secure Virtual Environment
As one would appreciate, medical services require the utmost privacy. Moreover, medical records need to be secured well to ensure the privacy of patients is upheld. This is where video conferencing differentiates itself from other modes of communication.
Premium video conferencing services like MegaMeeting use peer-to-peer transmission for video conferencing. Importantly, the data transmission to and from individual meeting attendees is end-to-end encrypted. As such, communicating via video conferencing is secure, ensuring the privacy of the patients. Few other communication modes can achieve that.
In summary, there are many benefits of video conferencing in healthcare. Video conferencing is a very effective tool in making healthcare services more available to the masses. For the healthcare service provider, it is a tool that will aid in how effectively providers can deliver services. To learn more about how you can start putting video conferencing to work for your own health services, contact MegaMeeting today.
MegaMeeting solves the biggest challenges of modern video conferencing. For users, it is an all-in-one platform that delivers both video conferencing and webinars in a single, simplified interface. For attendees, it is 100% browser-based, making it highly accessible; joining a meeting is instantaneous from a single click. For enterprises, it is highly customizable, with white-labeling options for a private branded solution. For developers, it is API-driven and easy to integrate.
Powered by WebRTC, Node.js, React, and GraphQL, it is a cutting-edge platform that is fun and easy to use for users and developers alike.
