​Online consultations, although they have their limitations, have proven to be very useful during the pandemic, as patients can use them when they need a medical opinion but their situation does not allow them to go to a doctor. We spoke to MedLife GP Dr. Stelian Alexandra about what online consultations look like from a doctor’s perspective and who usually uses this service.

Although there are obvious differences between face-to-face and remote consultations, Dr. Stelian explained to us that the history is extremely important in both cases: “The history can also be done online without any problems. You can’t do a physical exam, but you can rely on what the patient says, what their symptoms are. They help investigations, where they are, they are an objective part of the consultation.”

“Anamnesis helps to see the patient’s condition, orient himself in his needs and understand whether he needs examination, imaging or physical consultation,” the doctor added.

What conditions can be observed during online consultations?

Dr. Oleksandra Stelian explained to us that hypertension and diabetes are diseases that can be controlled remotely. Of course, it is important that the patient knows how to measure blood pressure and has a working device that gives accurate results.

Also, a genitourinary infection can be determined even after a remote consultation, if there is urinary retention and a urinalysis is performed.

Who can make an appointment for a medical consultation online?

From her experience working at the MedLive online clinic, Dr. Oleksandra Stelian told us that “in general, people who needed a consultation, a consultation, were scheduled. Patients with certain symptoms that they did not know how to group. This is where a doctor intervenes, who notices what is going on and refers the patient to a specialized clinical consultation or certain tests, and then comes back with the results.”

Another category of patients who came to the MedLive clinic are those who tested positive for COVID-19 and were not in the country or did not have a family doctor. Because they needed symptom monitoring and expert advice, they scheduled an online chat with a doctor.

Also, chronically stable patients who need a doctor’s consultation can turn to online consultations.

What do online consultations look like from a doctor’s point of view?

“Patients seem to be just as open. The difference is that online they get to the topic they need advice on more quickly,” Dr. Stelian told us.

“One of the benefits of online consultations is that some patients also come in for minor symptoms, and that’s fine,” she added.

Another advantage of online consultations is that sometimes they help patients not to engage in improper self-medication and prevent taking drugs that do not help the disease at all.

“There are patients who had a fever for a day, made an appointment 1-2 days later, but by the time they came to the doctor, they drank themselves antibiotics. And they found themselves in front of a doctor with a treatment started unnecessarily for a completely different reason. At the moment, if there are symptoms, I can ask a doctor online and he prescribes them symptomatically. In this way, we avoid that patients take some medications that sometimes really do not make sense in the treatment scheme,” the doctor warned.

An online consultation at the MedLive clinic takes place in Zoom and can be held on any device; you just need to check if the microphone, headphones and camera are working. You can make an appointment both from your MedLife account and through the MedLife application, online on the website or in the Call Center. You can choose the specialization, doctor, day and time of the consultation.

*According to the provisions of the law, the term “online consultation” means a medical consultation before a specialized medical consultation, which is held in premises specially authorized for this purpose.

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Online medical consultations – how they work and when we can access them