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6 Ways Telemedicine Improves A Patient’s Range Of Choice

Telemedicine is one of the great inventions of recent decades. This new form of medicine is improving the lives of millions of people in numerous ways. One of the major ways in which telemedicine makes the lives of patients better is that it hugely improves their choices when it comes to health care.

Here are six ways telemedicine improves a patient’s range of choice.

Geographic Location

Geography and distance matter less than ever before thanks to the advent of telemedicine. It is now easy for patients to choose to consult with physicians in far-off locations using telemedicine apps. Telemedicine allows patients to have consultations with medical professionals in distant parts of the country or even the world. The fact that geography and distance are now so much less of an impediment means that patients have a tremendously wider range of choice of which medical practitioners they consult with. Telemedicine has made the world a much smaller place.

 

Money Saving

Telemedicine affords patients far more scope for money-saving. When using conventional medicine, patients are likely to need to pay more because they only have access to a relatively small number of medical professionals. Telemedicine opens the market up and allows patients to choose from a far wider selection of medical professionals. A market operates best when there are no barriers to entry and competition is fierce. When providers of medical treatment are operating in a highly competitive market, they are forced to provide the best service possible for the most economical price. The healthy competition that telemedicine fosters gives patients a far wider choice and makes money-saving easier than ever.

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Saving money on health care is made easier through the advent of telemedicine.

Rare Treatments

Using traditional medicine is inherently limiting in terms of the types of treatment it leaves open to a patient. When a person uses telemedicine, they have a far wider range of choices of what types of treatment they would like to avail of. This wider list of possible options includes rare, novel, and experimental treatments. Rare treatments are, by their very nature, only available from a few sources. Many groundbreaking types of medical treatment are only offered by a small handful of specialist doctors. Often a rare and experimental treatment is the best possible option for a patient. Telemedicine allows people to avail of rare and experimental treatments much more easily.

 

Time Saving

Before the advent of telemedicine, receiving medical treatment was often a very time-consuming undertaking. People had no choice but to travel long distances, wait in waiting rooms, attend multiple in-person consultations, visit pharmacies again and again, and generally devote tons of precious time to the business of receiving medical treatment. Telemedicine has changed all this. Thanks to telemedicine, patients now have the ability to choose treatment methods that are far less time-consuming, such as remote consultations. Telemedicine makes long journeys to hospitals and surgeries far less necessary in many cases; it also makes it easy to send test results over the internet. Patients have more time-saving options than ever before now thanks to telemedicine.

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Telemedicine saves time for both patients and medical professionals alike.

Avoidance of ERs and Surgeries

Prior to telemedicine exploding onto the scene, patients were forced to spend long hours queuing up in emergency rooms and doctor’s surgeries, often for quite minor injuries and ailments. Before telemedicine, there was simply no option but to report to ERs and surgeries and waste precious time waiting to be seen by a doctor. ERs and waiting rooms tend to be hothouses of germs and viruses, and many a patient has left one of these places sicker than when they arrived! Telemedicine has changed this situation for the better. Telemedicine has made it possible to perform a lot of medical consultations that previously would have required an in-person visit remotely from the comfort of your own sick bed. Having the choice to not make the time-consuming trek to a germ-filled ER or surgery has hugely improved the lives of many patients.

Work Schedule

It used to be the case that when a person got ill to the extent that they required a visit to the doctor, they would almost certainly need to take a day off work. Even if a person was feeling good enough to work, a doctor’s appointment often meant they would need to use up a precious “sick day.” This was an unfortunate situation. Very often, the only thing necessitating that a person take the day off was the fact that they had to attend a time-consuming doctor’s appointment. Thanks to telemedicine, this situation has changed for the better. Telemedicine consultations can now be done so quickly that if a patient desires to attend work on the same day, they easily can. This gives patients the choice to stay home from work if they really need to, but also to attend work if they would prefer to do so.

6 Ways Telemedicine Can Improve MMJ Patients’ Lives

Many people in the US use medical marijuana to ease the symptoms of a physical or psychological condition. MMJ is widely used to treat psychological conditions such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia, as well as physical conditions such as chronic pain, glaucoma, and muscle spasms. Laws that legalize the use of medical cannabis are rolling out across the nation, state by state, at a rapid rate. Now, over half of the states in America allow some type of medical cannabis usage.

The rise of medical marijuana has coincided happily with the rise of telemedicine. In fact, you could say that telemedicine and medical marijuana are a match made in heaven. Here are six ways telemedicine can improve MMJ patients’ lives.

Telemedicine is a Godsend For MMJ Patients With Mobility Issues

Many medical marijuana users have mobility issues. Lots of people use MMJ to alleviate the discomfort associated with conditions that hamper mobility such as arthritis, chronic pain, muscle spasms, broken limbs, and being an amputee. For these people, getting to their local doctor’s office or MMJ dispensary can be a difficult ordeal packed with challenges, obstacles, and hassles. Telemedicine massively improves the lives of these MMJ patients by giving them the option to consult with their doctor, and even to order their MMJ, online or over the phone from their home.

Telemedicine Makes Life Much Easier For MMJ Patients Who Live in Remote Locations

Many legal MMJ states, such as California, Alaska, and Nevada, are large and have lots of wilderness. In states like these, a lot of medical cannabis patients live in very remote areas, far from their nearest doctor’s office or MMJ dispensary. Telemedicine makes life much easier for these people. They can consult with their physician online from their home instead of traveling for many hours to meet face-to-face. They can also contact their dispensary online to ask questions, check menus and merchandise, and even make orders.

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Telemedicine De-Clutters MMJ Dispensaries

People can now contact their local medical marijuana dispensary using their smartphone or mobile device. This form of telemedicine means that patients do not need to take a trip to their local MMJ dispensary to pick up their prescription or get some advice. MMJ dispensaries are always keen to educate their patients about the newest developments in the MMJ world, and this can now be done using telemedicine. As well as receiving information via telemedicine, many dispensaries will take orders online and even make deliveries. This results in a much quicker and more streamlined service for MMJ patients, as well as dispensaries that are less hectic and cluttered.

Telemedicine Gives MMJ Patients Far More Choice

Telemedicine allows MMJ patients to consult with specialist doctors and dispensaries in any part of their state. Many localities, even in MMJ-friendly states such as California, Colorado, and Florida, have only a small selection of doctors and dispensaries. In smaller, more rural locales, the choice of what doctor a person can visit is very limited. Also, some locations do not yet have a local dispensary, or if they do, it often does not have the wide selection of MMJ treats that other dispensaries in larger towns and cities have. Telemedicine gives people a far wider choice of what doctor they consult with and which dispensary they can purchase their MMJ products from.

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Telemedicine is a Giant Time Saver

Traveling to the doctor’s office, waiting in line, and then having a consultation in person can be a very time-consuming undertaking. Telemedicine really improves the lives of MMJ patients who have tight schedules and need to save as much time as possible. Instead of the multi-hour commitment of visiting a doctor in person, an MMJ patient can use telemedicine and have a consultation in a matter of minutes. Patients can also save time by consulting with their local dispensary using telemedicine.

Telemedicine Makes Waiting in a Doctor’s Waiting Room Unnecessary

Many MMJ users have medical conditions that are not contagious in any way. But when they visit a doctor’s office, they are subjected to airborne viruses and germs that can actually make them sicker than they were before they came. People with psychological conditions such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, or insomnia are often otherwise physically healthy. And people with pain conditions and chronic issues such as backache, glaucoma, muscle spasms, and arthritis are often healthy apart from their chronic condition. The last thing these people need is to pick up a cold or flu every time they need to consult with their doctor or pick up a repeat prescription. Telemedicine allows MMJ patients to consult with their doctor without having to queue up in a stuffy, virus-infested waiting room. This certainly makes the lives of MMJ patients much better.

5 Ways Telemedicine Is Superior to Traditional Medicine

Telemedicine has become hugely popular over the last few years. Being able to consult with a doctor from a remote location via the internet has saved a lot of people a great deal of time and effort. There are many ways telemedicine is superior to traditional medicine.

Traditional medicine has, of course, taken us one heck of a long way. It has developed, changed, and grown, and in so doing has improved our lives immeasurably. It’s not all that long ago that people were having limbs amputated without anesthetic, undergoing pointless and harmful frontal lobotomies, and dying of common colds! Today, miraculous synthetic limbs are making the lives of amputees much easier, brain surgeons are removing tumors from deep inside the fragile (and, until recently, impenetrable and barely understood) brain, and the mortality rates from diseases such as colds, flus, and stomach bugs are close to zero. Even cancer is now well understood and often treatable. Traditional medicine is a testament to the enormous potential of humankind. The visionaries who work tirelessly and dedicate their lives to growing and expanding this field are real heroes to whom we all owe a great deal.

But traditional medicine has some limitations. Most of these are to do with logistics and time. And this is where telemedicine comes in to improve things greatly. Here are five ways in which telemedicine is superior to traditional medicine.

Telemedicine is a Massive Time Saver

In today’s world, most people are busy, busy, busy! Time is of the essence for those who are juggling jobs, families, and numerous other commitments. For these overloaded people, every minute of time they can save is useful. Telemedicine in the USA saves busy people a lot of precious time. Traveling to a hospital or doctor’s office is often a stressful undertaking that eats up several hours of someone’s day. But consulting with a medical professional online, via an app, or over the phone using telemedicine can be done in barely any time at all. A vital telemedicine consultation can be over and done with in less than 15 minutes, from the comfort of your own home. 

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The last thing you want when seeking medical care is to pick up an extra unwanted virus or bug! Luckily, you can avoid this by using telemedicine services.

 

Telemedicine Allows People to Avoid Germs and Viruses Lurking in Hospitals and Doctors’ Offices

The beauty of telemedicine is that you can use it from any place, at any time. And this means that in many situations, you’ll be able to have all your medical needs met remotely, and therefore not need to spend any time at all waiting in a doctor’s office or hospital, marinating in the germs and viruses that tend to call the air and surfaces there “home.” By using telemedicine, you can avoid the secondary illnesses that often result from spending time in a doctor’s office or hospital.

Telemedicine Gives Patients a Vast Amount of Choice

Using telemedicine, a patient can consult with a doctor or physician from almost anywhere in the entire United States (or even the world!). Many people live in localities that have an unimpressive selection of local doctors. Some people do not particularly like dealing with any of the medical professionals in their own neighborhood or town. Also, people often require the services of highly specialized physicians, but they live in a city where no such specialists operate. Telemedicine opens up a whole world of options and gives patients a vast amount of choice.

 

 

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For those living in remote areas, telemedicine can be a real lifesaver.

Telemedicine is a Lifesaver For Folks Who Live in Remote Locations

Telemedicine is vastly superior to traditional medicine for people who live in remote areas of the country. Many rural folks live in places that are a multi-hour or even multi-day drive from their nearest suitable medical practice. For these people, going to the doctor’s office to receive traditional medical care is extremely inconvenient. People in remote locations are often busy farmers with tight schedules, so traveling for days to see a doctor is barely an option. Telemedicine allows these folks to consult with a physician anywhere in the world, right from their own isolated outpost… in a matter of seconds!

Telemedicine Makes Life Much Easier For Immobile Patients

For people with mobility issues, such as wheelchair users and folks who require disabled parking, getting to a doctor’s office or hospital can be a taxing ordeal. Even with handicap parking and ramps, it can require a herculean effort for folks with mobility issues to get around. Telemedicine is much better than traditional medicine at catering to these people. Using telemedicine, an immobile person can get a lot of their medical needs met in a hassle-free manner from the comfort of their own home.

How You Can Use Telemedicine to Keep on Top of Your Mental Health

In an increasingly stressful world, it can feel impossible to stay on top of your mental health. These problems can be made even worse if you can’t make the time to visit a doctor or a psychologist thanks to your busy schedule. Mental health is something that needs to be prioritized, but it can be so difficult to properly make time for it until it’s too late and you get burned out. Luckily, telemedicine exists to help people with busy schedules to properly take care of their mental health.

Telemedicine is experiencing a huge boom in popularity at the moment thanks to the proliferation of smartphones. Now that everyone has a machine in their pocket that allows them to order food, get a date, or buy clothes, medical professionals are using this technology to bring care to people who really need it. Telemedicine is the combination of telecommunications technology with medical or diagnostic advice. It has been in existence for almost as long as telecommunications, but in the past it was mostly used in emergency conditions where medics could not access patients, such as warzones and remote areas. However, in a world where everyone has a smartphone, telemedicine is being utilized for all kinds of everyday care.

Mental health maintenance is one of the ways that telemedicine is being used, and this is happening in many different ways. The first way is that people are accessing primary care physicians via their smartphones to conduct regular medical appointments in a way that is more convenient for them. For busy professionals, it can be hard to make time to visit your doctor’s office, especially if their location or opening hours are inconvenient. This is especially true if your job is particularly high-pressure and taking time off during working hours is unthinkable. Telemedicine means you can access medical advice for a mental condition or get a repeat prescription from the comfort of your own home.

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Scheduling a telemedicine appointment is as easy as picking up your smartphone.

You might be unsure about how a medical appointment over the phone can work, but the truth is that it’s a very easy process. The first step is to log on and either make an appointment or visit a drop-in service, depending on the type of telemedical provider you’re visiting. In either instance, you may have to join a virtual waiting room, but after a short period of time, you’ll be connected with a doctor and you’ll be able to speak to them face-to-face via the camera on your phone. Like any doctor, they’ll ask about your condition and suggest treatment paths for you. For mental health issues, these may involve medication, therapy, lifestyle changes, or a combination of all three.

As well as being able to access primary care physicians, telemedicine can allow you to access therapy from psychologists or psychiatrists. You can ask your primary care physician for a telemedical referral or do your own research to find a provider that would work for you. Like using telemedicine for primary care, therapy via your smartphone is surprisingly easy. Using your phone for therapy means that you’re not confined to face-to-face therapy. Indeed, many telemedical therapy services allow patients to use text, phone, and email to speak to their therapists; this can be very useful for people with social anxiety who are nervous to speak with people and seek therapy. For people who have trouble leaving the house, telemedicine can offer them a safe space to access help and health care without forcing them out of their comfort zone. By using telemedicine in this way, you’ll be able to build up to fighting the symptoms of your mental illness in a way that is comfortable and safe for you.

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If you need medication for your mental health condition, telemedicine can make procuring it a lot more convenient.

In seeking therapy or primary care for your mental health condition, you may have to get prescriptions for medication. Lengthy waits at pharmacies to fill prescriptions can be triggering for people suffering from some kinds of mental illness, especially if leaving the house is difficult. Telemedical providers can often link directly with pharmacies and send your prescriptions straight to them. This means that your medications will be ready and waiting for you when you arrive to the pharmacy, so you won’t have to wait and inconvenience yourself.

While mental illnesses can be some of the most difficult to live with on a daily basis, telemedicine is truly revolutionizing how mental health patients access their health care. It is a truly patient-centered approach, meaning that people who suffer at varying levels of severity will be able to access health care in a way that puts them at less stress, and thus helps them properly treat their conditions.

How You Can Use Telemedicine for Optic Health

Your eyes are one of the most important parts of your body. They are called the windows to the soul and they give you access to what surrounds you and what’s ahead of you. However, they are delicate and can get damaged without you even knowing it. It’s very important to keep on top of your eye health, and telemedicine is one of the best ways to do it in a convenient and affordable way.

Telemedicine is experiencing an explosion in popularity at the moment. In a society that allows you to order dinner, find a date, and buy clothes from your phone, there’s no reason why you can’t access health care through your phone too. Simply put, telemedicine is the combination of medical or diagnostic advice with telecommunications technology. It has been used since the advent of telecommunications, usually in war zones or other disaster situations where doctors can’t access their patients, but now patients are turning the tables and using telemedicine for their own convenience.

Convenience is the reason that many busy professionals are turning to telemedicine. Traditional primary care physicians usually operate under traditional office hours and are located in places that are convenient to them, as opposed to convenient to their patients. If you’re someone with a busy job, it can be difficult to take time out for medical appointments, so unless you’re feeling very unwell, you’re unlikely to make time for a doctor’s appointment. But telemedical appointments can be done from the comfort of your home, at a time that suits you, so you’re not at the mercy of someone else’s schedule.

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Did you know you can use your smartphone to access optical health care?

The key to telemedicine being used for optic health is the camera. While a phone camera can’t rival an optician’s chair, you can still use it to give your telemedical doctor a look at what’s going on. In order to see an optician via telemedicine, you just need to find a specialist and either make an appointment or use a drop-in service. You might have to wait in a virtual waiting room, but once you get connected to a medical professional, it’s just like a regular doctor’s appointment. They’ll ask how they can help you and what the nature of your problem is. If you have a specific eye issue, they’ll ask to look at it and offer you a diagnosis based on what they can see.

Telemedical doctors have excellent links to secondary physicians, so if you need to be referred to an ophthalmologist, they can send the referral directly as opposed to you having to make a second appointment. They will also link in with your pharmacy so that if you need medication, the prescription will be ready and waiting for you and you won’t have to wait. As well as being more convenient, telemedicine is usually more affordable than traditional primary care, because the doctors who operate online do not have the traditional overheads associated with running a doctor’s office. Opticians also have the double whammy of having to act as a sales front for glasses and lenses, whereas a telemedical optician does not have to fork out for fancy displays, even if they have access to the most chic glasses. If you are in need of new specs, you’ll still be able to order them online, usually at a discounted rate relative to a traditional optician.

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If you don’t have time to head to an in-person optical appointment, why not try scheduling one via telemedicine?

A telemedical doctor can also give you general advice on eye care. Eye infections are a lot more common than you may think and can have a variety of causes. In our increasingly technological world, eyes can also experience tiredness thanks to excessive screen time. Your telemedical doctor will be able to give you advice on avoiding eye exhaustion and how to best take breaks when you’re at work. In addition, if you have a condition like diabetes that can have a negative impact on your vision, your telemedical doctor can give you advice on how to avoid unnecessary damage, through lifestyle changes and adherence to your medication program.

Health care, including eye care, has been one way for a long time, and telemedicine is changing the game for doctors and patients alike. Patients no longer feel the need to go out of their way to access health care in an inconvenient manner when they can see a qualified doctor from the comfort of their own home. Don’t be afraid to try telemedicine for your optic health. You’ll be empowered and comfortable in the knowledge that you can take care of your eyes while not going out of your way to access health care for someone else’s convenience.

How Telemedicine Can Help Patients Fight Addiction

Addiction can be an insidious and challenging thing to treat. Many addicts are hesitant to get treatment, or are unable to because of a lack of access to treatment facilities or specialists, or because of a lack of funds to pay for their treatment. However, more steps are being taken so that patients are able to use telemedicine to access effective, high-quality addiction treatments.

Telemedicine is the usage of technology to aid in the health care process. Whether it is video chats between a doctor and their patient for management of symptoms, or frequent email check-ins instead of in-person doctor’s office visits, telemedicine is helping to revolutionize the way patients communicate with their health care providers. With addiction treatment, individuals can take advantage of more personalized and frequent care from addiction specialists, physicians, and counselors to help with their ability to achieve and maintain sobriety.

Here’s a look at some ways that addiction patients can benefit from using telemedicine.

Easy access to interventional measures

One of the most important steps in the process of addiction treatment is to get the person to admit they need help. Counselors or physicians can have discussions with their patients through online video chats to help facilitate interventions and encourage the patient to seek proper treatment. Interventional measures can ensure that more patients are able to start the process of fighting their addictions, and telemedicine options make this step more convenient and simple than traditional in-person interventions.

Get help even if they live in remote areas

Many individuals who live in remote areas are unable to access appropriate help for their addictions. Telemedicine options can bring some treatment elements straight to the person’s home. This means that even patients who don’t have immediate access to top-notch treatment facilities can still access high-quality care, no matter where they’re located.

 

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Seeking treatment for addiction can be a stressful experience, but thankfully telemedicine can make things a lot easier.

Access to addiction specialists

The recovery process for those suffering from addiction can be a challenging and arduous journey. Individuals have a better shot at maintaining sobriety if they have access to counselors or physicians who specialize in addiction treatment. With telemedicine options like video chats or email communications, patients can easily access the very best and most well-respected specialists in the field, with the hope of obtaining recovery in a more supported and guided atmosphere.

Finding online support groups or in-person meetings

Telemedicine options use technology to develop stronger and more effective recovery methods. Patients can use the internet to locate in-person meetings near them if they would like to attend support groups (like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous). If individuals are uncomfortable seeking in-person help or are unable to get transportation to a meeting, they can also use the internet to connect with online support groups. These groups can be really helpful in encouraging sober lifestyles and helping patients interact with other individuals who are having similar experiences and struggles. There are even apps patients can download on their smartphones that can assist in promoting sobriety and help track progress of the individual’s recovery.

Provides privacy

Addicts who need help might be hesitant to seek treatment if they’re worried about friends, family, or co-workers finding out about their addiction. With telemedicine, patients can seek help from the privacy of their own homes, so they never have to worry about running into people they know when they visit a doctor or therapist’s office. This element of telemedicine is essential, because this privacy might mean that more patients can get the help they need without worrying about the stigma of being discovered seeking treatment for addiction.

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Through telemedicine, people struggling with addiction can get the treatment and support they need.

More affordable addiction treatment options

Telemedicine also has the great benefit of being cheaper than most in-person doctor’s appointments or therapy sessions. Virtual appointments can help the patient save money, since they don’t have to pay the same doctor’s office fees they would if they were seeing a doctor in person. Additionally, to visit an in-person specialist or counselor, individuals are often faced with paying for transportation, parking fees, etc. With telemedicine options, patients can skip extra fees and can save money instantly – which can be crucial for patients who might have limited funds during their recovery process.

Can view progress reports/updates

Telemedicine can also streamline the process of addiction treatment by allowing health care providers to connect directly with their patients – any time, any place. Providers can check in with their patients frequently to monitor progress and receive updates on how their patient is doing. This process is more convenient for both the patient and the provider, who doesn’t have to schedule in-person meetings. These check-ins can also benefit the patient’s progress by allowing them to be held accountable with frequent communication with members of their treatment team. This accountability and constant contact can result in a better shot at achieving and maintaining sobriety for the patient.

Telemedicine is changing the world of health care, and these changes are also evident in the treatment of addiction. With major benefits for both the patient and the provider, telemedicine can definitely help make the road to sobriety a smoother one.

Can Telemedicine Help Me Decide Which Medical Marijuana Strain to Use?

If you’re new to the world of medical marijuana, the sheer volume of strains as well as the different forms can be so alienating that you may decide against going down the route. However, if you seek some professional guidance, you won’t regret choosing to use medical marijuana to treat your condition.

Medical marijuana can be used to treat a wide and varied number of conditions. Patients have found it helpful in treating symptoms from illnesses including cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, anxiety, and depression. While it is now legal to use recreationally in states including California and Washington, medical marijuana use is booming thanks to a wider understanding of the benefits of the drug for a wide range of illnesses.

Telemedicine is one of the most popular ways to access medical marijuana – but what is it? Simply put, telemedicine is the combination of telecommunications technology with medical or diagnostic advice. It can be used in a variety of situations – usually emergency ones where professional medics can be difficult to obtain – but is now experiencing a boom in popularity due to the proliferation of smartphones.

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If you have a smartphone, tablet, or laptop, you can use telemedicine to access advice about medical marijuana.

The reason that telemedicine has become so popular for people seeking treatment with medical marijuana is that it allows them to connect with experts who can give them specialized advice relating to MMJ. While many traditional doctors are uneducated about medical marijuana, there are scores of experts online who are willing and able to deliver information relating to MMJ for people who are in real need of advice and knowledge.

There are several strains of medical marijuana available, with differing strengths and uses. There are so many different ways that they can be used, and this can sometimes be overwhelming for patients who are often in deep need of help. By linking in with medical marijuana doctors via telemedicine, you can gain insight and specialized advice as to how MMJ can help you specifically. When it comes to medical marijuana, everyone’s needs are different, so there is no point diving into the deep end without getting some education about which strain can best help you and ease the symptoms of your condition.

While it may seem odd, conducting an appointment by telemedicine is actually incredibly easy. It’s just slightly different from a traditional appointment in a doctor’s office. If you’re looking for advice on medical marijuana, telemedicine can often be the better option, as doctors who operate via telemedicine are often more open about being experts in therapies (such as medical marijuana) that can be seen as slightly alternative by the mainstream medical community.

The first thing you need to do is to find a telemedical doctor that is interested in medical marijuana. Then, you either need to make an appointment or wait in a virtual waiting room for a doctor to become available. Once you become connected to the doctor, they will speak to you about your condition and then give you some advice on what strains of medical marijuana are most suitable for you. You can also be referred to dispensaries in your area that are best suited to helping people with your specific condition. The telemedical doctor can also advise you on the different forms of medical marijuana, which can come in edibles, lotions, vapes, tinctures, and joints, among other things. The perfect combination of form and strain of medical marijuana can differ from patient to patient, so once you find yours, you’ll be best positioned to treat your condition.

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Different strands of MMJ can help to treat different conditions.

Marijuana comes in different strains made up of different combinations of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) alongside other cannabinoids, which can all deliver differing effects to the body. While THC is mainly psychoactive, delivering effects that you would traditionally associate with recreational use of marijuana, the differing combinations of THC and CBD can deliver relief to people suffering from a range of illnesses. For those with poor appetite and nausea, medical marijuana can be very helpful in allowing the body to gain appetite and digest food. MMJ can also help people with mental health issues feel calmer from their anxiety, depression, or socialization issues. It has also been shown to offer relief for people suffering from Parkinson’s disease or seizures to help them gain mobility back.

When seeking out medical marijuana treatment, telemedicine is a great place to start. You’ll be able to speak to someone who knows what they’re talking about and who will give you helpful and non-judgmental advice. For patients who have no experience in taking medical marijuana, the sheer amount of types of MMJ can be massively overwhelming. By logging on and chatting to an expert, you’ll be able to visit your dispensary confident in the fact that you’ve educated yourself and gotten as much information as you can to properly treat your condition.

How Can Telemedicine Help Cancer Patients Access Medical Marijuana?

Cancer could definitely be considered a global pandemic. In 2016, it was estimated that 1,685,210 new cases of cancer were diagnosed and that 595,690 people died of the disease. The most common forms of cancer in the U.S. are breast, lung, prostate, colon, bladder, skin, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, thyroid, kidney, leukemia, endometrial, and pancreatic cancer, and it’s a safe bet that you know someone close to you who has been affected.  The treatment path is familiar to all of us, with radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy being the normal route for most sufferers. These treatments are quite harsh and, while they often save the lives of patients, they can leave some pretty serious side effects in their wake. More and more patients are opting to seek alternative treatments to complement traditional therapies; one of these is medical marijuana – which can now be accessed through telemedicine.

According to the American Cancer Association, studies on medical marijuana have shown that the drug improves symptoms of nausea and vomiting, neuropathic pain, and food intake. It can also help relax patients who are feeling stressed due to the pressure of their diagnosis and treatment. However, many patients can be turned off of seeking treatment via medical marijuana due to the stigma of the treatment and the difficulty in finding a specialist who can recommend the correct form of treatment for you.

This is where telemedicine comes in. It is truly the perfect way for cancer patients who need advice on medical marijuana to seek treatment. Many people are unaware of its existence, but if you’re able to Google your symptoms, you’re able to engage with telemedicine for treatment. Put simply, telemedicine is the delivery of medical or diagnostic advice through telecommunications technology. It has been around for as long as telecommunications technology has, usually being used in disaster areas or warzones, but now, thanks to the boom in smartphones, it’s accessible to nearly everyone.

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Medical marijuana has been shown to have significant benefits in alleviating some side effects of cancer treatments.

Firstly, you’ll need to check the legality and availability of medical marijuana in your state. Medical marijuana is legal in 29 U.S. states as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, and the District of Colombia. Seventeen additional states have laws limiting the levels of THC in medically available cannabis but allow access under certain conditions. The non-medical use of marijuana is legal in nine states, so no doctor’s documentation is required. However, it is still advisable to seek medical advice when looking to treat cancer with MMJ.

Many doctors are not familiar with the treatment process and those who seek treatment can often feel stigmatized, but telemedicine can connect you with a medical professional who specializes in medical marijuana treatment. You can simply search for someone who is a specialist and make an appointment with them. This will involve logging on, spending some time in a “virtual waiting room,” and then being connected with the medical professional you are scheduled to see. (Some services even offer drop-in appointments, so no appointment is necessary. However, your wait time may be longer.) You will use the camera on your phone to speak to your doctor via video about your cancer and how medical marijuana may be able to help. It is vital that you get recommendations as to which strains and forms of marijuana will be the most suitable for you in treating the specific side effects you are concerned about.

If you live in a state in which medical marijuana is legal, as opposed to non-medical use of marijuana, you will need some form of documentation to qualify you for medical marijuana treatment. This is usually a letter that is often referred to as a medical marijuana card or an MMJ card, and is available through sites like MMJRecs. Depending on the requirements in your state, it will simply recommend you for medical marijuana treatment, or it can specify the form and strain of medical marijuana treatment that you need. Either way, it will be signed, dated, and stamped by the medical professional you speak to on your telemedical appointment and will be sent to your home as an original document.

Divan Medical - MMJ

Telemedicine has made it so much easier for cancer patients to access complementary treatments like medical marijuana.

When you have your medical marijuana card, you can then visit a dispensary. If your state does not limit the type of medical marijuana that you can use, it is worth speaking to someone at the dispensary to get further advice on what forms and strains of medical marijuana may work for you. You are not just limited to smoking joints. There are vaporizers, edibles, creams, and oils that can help deliver MMJ to your system.

Now that the U.S. is waking up to how useful medical marijuana can be to cancer patients, there has never been a better time to take control and seek the health care that you need. As well as being convenient in terms of time, telemedicine also allows you to see a doctor from the comfort of your home, which will be useful if you are feeling especially worn out from your cancer treatment. Get onto your phone and make an appointment as soon as you can. It’ll be the best decision you’ve ever made.

No Time To Get To The Doctor’s Office? Pick Up A Phone And Use Telemedicine Instead

Once upon a time, if you wanted to go to the doctor, you would have to literally go to the doctor. But thankfully, that is no longer the case. With the advent of telecommunications came the capability for some basic medical work to be done over the phone, mainly rudimentary diagnosis. Now, with telecommunication technologies having developed at astonishing rates, the capabilities of our telecommunication services have allowed a form of medicine called telemedicine to quickly develop and flourish. Telemedicine is the science of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention all done remotely through a multifaceted approach of audio, video, imaging, and text. It aims to help those patients who would otherwise struggle to get medical help due to their isolated location.

If you’re someone who lives in a rural area with no access to a medical health practitioner, or someone with limited mobility for whom traveling is difficult, then telemedicine is precisely what you need. No longer is there a need to travel great distances in pain to see a doctor. Instead, you can get care as quickly as it takes to call a telemedical center. At this point, you’re probably wondering what the efficacy of telemedicine is comparative to traditional medicine. We understand that however convenient the form of medical help, nothing replaces effectiveness when it comes to one’s health. Let us put your mind at rest: many studies have proven the efficacy of telemedicine to be comparable to that of traditional medicine in many areas. Your doctor will be able to advise you on when and where telemedicine is a viable option for you, but if you’re someone with a smartphone, you have a huge amount of technological power in the palm of your hand – and health practitioners can tap into that technology to help track, diagnose, and treat any illnesses or diseases you may have.

Divan Medical - doctor with stethoscope

With telemedicine, you can have a virtual doctor in your pocket as long as you’ve got access to a smartphone!

Mobile Collaboration

Mobile collaboration technology provides health care practitioners in multiple locations the ability to share information and work together on patient issues.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Remote patient monitoring significantly reduces the need for outpatient visits and facilitates remote prescription verification. This has the potential to significantly reduce the overall cost of medical care for both patients and the health care system.

Reduction in Infectious Diseases

If the idea of a health professional contracting an infectious disease from another patient and passing it onto you has you squirming, you’ll love telemedicine! It eliminates the possible transmission of infectious diseases or parasites between patients and health professionals as they do not come into contact with one another.

Embarrassed By Your Malady?

We understand that some maladies are more embarrassing to be seen with than others. And if you happen to have an embarrassing illness, disease, or wound, the thought of sitting in a doctor’s office may be overwhelming. That feeling of overwhelm may make you put off actually getting the help you need. In this instance, telemedicine is an ideal solution to your embarrassment. You will still have to share information and video/images with your doctor, but you can rest assured doctor-patient confidentiality will guarantee it doesn’t leave your communications.

Divan Medical - woman with phone and tablet

All you need is a smartphone or tablet to access the medical care you require.

Suffering From a Chronic Illness?

Suffering from a chronic illness is difficult enough without having to deal with frequent journeys to medical centers. It can be extremely difficult to motivate yourself to make those journeys, regardless of how helpful they may be. Delaying the treatment of any illness or disease can lead it to becoming unmanageable. But with telemedicine, you can alleviate some of your pain by receiving help from the comfort of your home. Subsequently, you’ll be more likely to have the motivation necessary to ensure you stay diligent in administering any drugs or care.

Telepharmacy

With telemedicine, pharmacists can deliver medical prescriptions digitally. It’s particularly useful with chronic illnesses that require repeat prescriptions. Telepharmacy pharmaceuticals can be delivered at retail pharmacy sites or through hospitals, nursing homes, or other medical care facilities – wherever is easiest for the patient in question.

Reducing Patient Costs

It is easy to see how the use of telemedicine can reduce patient costs by reducing travel costs, as well as reducing unnecessary health care costs for the government through more timely and efficient electronic doctor visits, avoidance of unneeded ER trips, and nonadherence. All this leads to lower health care costs for patients.

Extended Access

With many areas of health care now using telemedicine, medical practices can consult with niche, specialist medical practitioners when trying to diagnose or treat patient illnesses and diseases far more rapidly. This means diagnosis and subsequent care comes about quicker and leads to far quicker recovery.

So what are you waiting for? It’s never been easier to pick up the phone and get your ailments, illnesses, wounds, and diseases cured or managed all from the comfort of your home. And it’s all thanks to the wonders of modern telecommunications and the technological innovations they have allowed within telemedicine.

How the Legalization of Marijuana Affects Telemedicine

Telemedicine (the digital diagnosis and treatment of patients) is revolutionizing medicine by linking patients and doctors while significantly reducing expenses for both parties. The efficacy of telemedicine has risen substantially in recent years thanks to developments in telecommunications. In such a fast-paced industry it can be difficult to keep up with its evolution, but we aim to ensure you stay on the bleeding edge of its advancements. Recently, the legalization of marijuana in numerous states has led telemedicine to offer patients an incredibly easy way to get medical marijuana.

Once upon a time, someone suffering from chronic illness such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, or Alzheimer’s could only find marijuana on the streets, and they’d be at risk of arrest just for possession. Now, anyone with an illness or disease that would be aided by the prescription of marijuana is legally free to obtain medical marijuana from many health practitioners around the country. This change in law provided people with access to government-regulated marijuana, where dosage and strains could be extremely accurately defined and prescribed, dependent on patient needs. It’s been a huge step forward for America, and a particularly huge step for medicine. Since the legalization of medical marijuana, the use of opioid painkillers and subsequent deaths from said painkillers has been significantly reduced.

However, a great many people suffering from chronic conditions are left so debilitated by their pain that traveling, or even leaving their houses, is out of the question. Until recently, an inability to get to the doctor would guarantee these people would not be prescribed medical marijuana. And so their pain would persist despite a known alleviator. Furthermore, there is still a climate of shame regarding the use of medical marijuana in some communities. This results in patients who are in dire need of a prescription forgoing one on the basis that they don’t want to be identified by someone they know going into a medical marijuana doctor’s office. They desire true anonymity.

Divan Medical - medical cannabis

Changes in the legalization of marijuana and the advent of telemedicine have gone hand in hand.

To further progress things, telemedicine has begun to allow medical marijuana prescriptions to be granted via telecommunications, including through websites such as MMJRecs. Subsequently, patients with chronic illness do not have to go through the pain or discomfort of traveling long distances to get medical marijuana. This is particularly important in states with a geographically dispersed population. But currently, not all states allow a medical marijuana prescription through telemedicine. Also, it must be noted that in order to benefit from telemedicine of any kind, you must be considered far enough from a doctor that traveling for an in-person visit would be difficult. Each state has its own ideas when it comes to telemedicine and the law, so it’s best to check your state’s legislation to figure out whether you qualify. A local doctor may also be of help in understanding the relevant state-level laws.

An established doctor-patient relationship is a requirement in medical marijuana treatment. States do not want doctors blindly providing patients with medical marijuana without first building up a detailed idea of their medical history and subsequently identifying a likely diagnosis that will be aided by the use of marijuana. Telemedicine allows medical practitioners to develop a relationship with patients who are incapacitated from the comfort of the patient’s home. With medical marijuana now legal to be prescribed via telemedicine, doctors are better able to serve their patients in a timely manner.

California’s medical board is certainly at the forefront of advancements in laws relevant to both medical marijuana and telemedicine, and they had this to say: “The initial examination for the condition for which marijuana is being recommended must be an appropriate prior examination and meet the standard of care. Telehealth, in compliance with Business and Professions Code section 2290.5, is a tool in the practice of medicine and does not change the standard of care.”

Divan Medical - stethoscope

California is one state that has embraced the combination of legalized medical marijuana and telemedicine.

It may be surprising to some to learn that California is the only state where an explicitly positive policy regarding the use of telemedicine in conjunction with medical marijuana prescription has been laid out. This provides Californian doctors the ability to recommend medical marijuana via telemedicine without fear of losing their license to practice medicine or being sued.

So it’s clear to see that telemedicine is greatly impacted by the legalization of marijuana. With the legalization of marijuana, or any other drug, comes far more complexity in the laws and practice of telemedicine. As medical practitioners attempt to grapple with new laws and currently undefined ones in this relatively new and incredibly exciting area, there is likely to be some hesitance to go all in on telemedicine for fear of legal retribution. But as time goes on, the impressive efficacy and cost-effectiveness of telemedicine will ensure that the laws surrounding it will get properly defined, and that more and more health practitioners will feel comfortable exploring the myriad benefits this young form of medicine provides.

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