#telemedicines

[jaygwinfrey]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Mark Joseph Stern at Slate:

On Tuesday, many Americans simultaneously voted to protect abortion rights and elect Donald Trump president. But these two desires—for reproductive freedom and another Trump term—are fundamentally contradictory. Trump’s second administration is all but guaranteed to impose major federal restrictions on abortion access. These new limitations will apply nationwide, to states both red and blue, including those that just enshrined a right to protect abortion in their constitutions. It will be harder to access reproductive health care everywhere. Two and a half years after the fall of Roe v. Wade, even without abortion banned in much of the country, we are likely standing at the highest watermark of abortion access that we will see for years if not decades. The rollback is coming; it will be felt everywhere. And voters who thought they could put Trump back in the White House while preserving or expanding reproductive rights are in for a brutal shock.

Tuesday was a mixed night for abortion initiatives on the ballot, but the overall results reflect a clear rejection of stringent bans. Voters approved initiatives not only in blue Colorado, Maryland, and New York, but also in Montana, Missouri, Arizona, and Nevada—all states where Trump has won or is leading. Pro-choice measures failed in South Dakota and Nebraska, while the latter state enshrined a 12-week ban. Florida’s Amendment 4, which would’ve overturned the state’s six-week ban, fell short of the required 60 percent threshold. But it came close, with 57 percent approval. All told, millions of Americans cast their ballots to protect or restore the right to choose.

These victories for abortion, however, are about to crash into the reality of a ruthlessly anti-choice administration. Although Trump claims he wants to leave abortion to the states, the reality is that abortion policy is set, in substantial part, at the federal level. Even if he rejects a congressional push for a new ban, which is uncertain, his appointees will still have the tools to enact devastating anti-abortion policies. Former and future Trump administration officials have, after all, spent the past few years plotting a scheme to impose sweeping restrictions on reproductive health care through executive action alone. They are now well positioned to set their plan, largely outlined in Project 2025, into action. And we have every reason to believe that Trump will let them do it.

There are two main paths of attack. First, the Food and Drug Administration can revoke approval of mifepristone, the first drug in a medication abortion. Nearly two-thirds of women currently use medication to terminate their pregnancies, and it has proved incredibly safe and effective. The FDA first approved mifepristone in 2000 and has steadily removed restrictions on it since; today the agency allows providers to mail the pill directly to women without an in-person visit. And although the drug is generally banned in states that prohibit abortion, blue states have set up “shield laws” that allow their providers to prescribe and mail it to red-state patients.

Over the past few years, the Republican Party has taken direct aim at mifepristone from every conceivable angle. A GOP-backed interest group urged a Trump-appointed federal judge to overturn the FDA’s approval of the drug, which he did last year. The Supreme Court threw out the case because the plaintiffs lacked standing, but 145 Republican members of Congress, in an amicus brief, urged the justices to sharply curtail mifepristone access by judicial fiat. A coalition of Republican attorneys general has now revived the case, demanding that the courts make mifepristone vastly more difficult to acquire.

The second Trump administration, though, won’t need the courts to accomplish this goal. Trump needs control over just the FDA, which he will have. In his first term, Trump stacked the Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA’s parent agency, with anti-abortion zealots. This time around, the top contenders to serve as his secretary of health and human services are, once again, staunch foes of abortion. (A dark horse candidate, the conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently switched positions on the topic and endorsed abortion restrictions.) Trump’s secretary can oust the current FDA commissioner, a Joe Biden appointee, and replace him with an ally who’ll go after mifepristone. The agency might impose draconian new restrictions on the drug, or it could revoke approval altogether.

Either step would be devastating for patients across the country. Rolling back access—by, for instance, forcing multiple in-person visits to the doctor—would impose onerous new burdens on abortion in blue states. It would compel countless patients to undergo procedural abortion in a clinic instead of terminating at home; this surge would overwhelm blue-state providers’ resources, which are already stretched thin by patients traveling from red states. And an FDA rollback would make the pill nearly impossible to obtain in red states with bans, since blue-state providers could not lawfully send it through the mail via telemedicine. At first blush, there might seem to be a backup plan. The second drug used in medication abortion, misoprostol, can also terminate a pregnancy when used alone. It’s not quite as effective when used without misoprostol, but it suffices as a backup option. So: If the FDA cracks down on mifepristone, can providers prescribe and mail misoprostol instead?

Not without serious legal exposure under the Comstock Act, a very real threat under a Trump-controlled Department of Justice. Congress enacted this archaic law in 1873 as part of a fit of puritanical panic against women’s rights. On its face, the law makes it a crime to mail any “article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion,” as well as any “drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.” The Biden administration has interpreted the law to bar only the mailing of drugs intended for illegal use. But several Trump-appointed judges have disagreed, and 20 Republican state attorneys general have already asserted that mailing medication abortion is always a crime. If that’s correct, then mailing mifepristone or misoprostol is unlawful.

The upcoming Trump Dictatorship will seek to crack down on abortion, and blue states are NOT safe.

This is why blue states need to consider secession.

[huayno]

this bit from succession was more accurate about who within the u.s. bears the brunt of rightwing transphobic rhetoric than the trans people i know fearmongering right now

[scifigeneration]

From science fiction to telemedicine: the surprising 150-year history of long-range medical treatment

by Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne

In 1874, a surgeon in South Australia telegraphed wound care instructions for a patient 2,000 kilometres away. A few years later, in 1879, a letter in The Lancet medical journal suggested physicians use the telephone to cut down on unnecessary patient visits.

As the telephone and telegraph spread, the idea of telemedicine – literally “healing at a distance” – inspired science fiction writers to conjure up new ways of treating patients across great distances.

Real-world technology has developed in tandem with scifi speculation ever since. Today, certain kinds of telemedicine have become commonplace, while other futuristic tools are in the offing.

The radio doctor and the teledactyl

In his 1909 short story The Machine Stops, English novelist E.M. Forster described a telemedicine apparatus that, when telegraphed, descends from the ceiling to care for patients in the comfort of their home. His story is also the earliest description of instant messaging and a kind of internet – both important for real-life telemedicine.

In 1924, Radio News magazine printed a cover story showing the future “Radio Doctor”. The cover depicts a physician examining a patient through a screen. Although the magazine story itself was a bizarre fiction that had little to do with a radio doctor, the imagery is evocative.

In a 1925 cover story for Science and Invention, US writer Hugo Gernsback describes a device called “The Teledactyl” (from tele, meaning far, and dactyl, meaning finger). The device uses radio transmitters and television screens to allow a doctor to interact with a patient. The added twist – the physician touches the patient using a remotely controlled mechanical hand set up in the patient’s home.

Gernsback was a futurist and pioneer in radio and electrical engineering. Nicknamed the “Father of Science Fiction”, Gernsback used fictional stories to educate readers on science and technology, and often included extensive scientific details in his writings. He helped establish science fiction as a literary genre, and the annual Hugo Awards are named after him.

From seafarers to spacefarers

The radio was important for early telemedicine. In the 1920s, physicians across the globe started using the radio to evaluate, diagnose, treat, and provide medical advice for sick or wounded seafarers and passengers. The radio is still used to provide medical consultation to ships at sea.

In 1955, Gernsback returned to the idea of distance medicine with “The Teledoctor”. This imaginary device uses the telephone and a closed-circuit television with mechanical arms controlled by the physician to provide remote patient care. Gernsback said the doctor of the future “will be able to do almost anything through teledoctoring that he can do in person”.

In 1959, psychiatrists in Nebraska started using two-way closed-circuit televisions to conduct psychiatric consultations between two locations. This is considered one of the first examples of modern-day telemedicine. Early telemedicine networks were expensive to develop and maintain, which limited broader use.

In the 1960s, NASA began efforts to integrate telemedicine into every human spaceflight program. By 1971, a telemedicine system was ready for trial on Earth – in the Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Healthcare (STARPAHC) program. Using a two-way television and radio connection and remote telemetry, the program connected Tohono Oʼodham people (then known as Papago) with nurses and physicians hundreds of miles away.

The internet and a pandemic

It wasn’t until 1970 that the word telemedicine was officially coined by US doctor Thomas Bird. Bird and his colleagues set up an audiovisual circuit between the Massachusetts General Hospital and Logan Airport to provide medical consultations to airport employees.

From the 1970s onward, telemedicine started gaining more traction. The internet, officially born in 1983, brought new ways to connect patients and physicians.

Satellites could connect physicians and patients across greater distances without the need for two-way closed-circuit televisions. The cost to develop and maintain a telemedicine network decreased in the 1980s, opening the door to wider adoption.

In his 1999 science fiction novel Starfish, Canadian writer Peter Watts describes a device called the “Medical Mantis”. This device allows a physician to remotely examine and perform procedures on patients deep beneath the ocean’s surface. In the early 2000s, NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations started testing teleoperated surgical robots in undersea environments.

The evolution of telemedicine has kept pace with advances in information and communication technology. Yet, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, telemedicine remained little used.

It took the global COVID pandemic to make telemedicine an integral part of modern healthcare. Most of this is consultations via video call – not so far away from what Gernsback envisioned a century, though so far without the robotic hands.

What’s next? One likely factor pushing real-world telemedicine to match the dreams of science fiction will be developments in human spaceflight.

As humans progress in space exploration, the future of telemedicine may look more like science fiction. Earth-based monitoring of astronauts’ health will require technological breakthroughs to keep pace with them as they travel deeper into space.

[ask-a-vetblr]

my apologies if this has been answered before, i tried to look for an already existing post on your blog but couldn't find it: but what's your opinion on telehealth veterinary practices? yesterday i saw an ad for a vet who you can just video call and it just seems very strange to me. vets physically assessing (like touching and feeling) an animal is ingrained in my head as the best way to go about things. just seeing a video of someone's pet doesn't feel right at all. what's your take on this stuff?

Hello, Sueanoi here.

The only way I can see it working is when there is a vet or at least a vet staff (including but not limited to vet tech, vet nurse, vet assistant) on the receiving end. They have to at least know how to examine the animal and what to look for according to recommendation of the vet on the other end.

Consultation is a normal thing that vets do. Most if not all vets have experienced contacting a specialist of a specific issue to ask for their help over distance.

There is no way tele-medicine can work without a vet or vet staff on both ends. A layman cannot recognize signs of disease, or they cannot communicate what they see for lack of vocabulary to describe what they're seeing.

I'll give you an example, most examinations require the vet to use all the senses except taste. They look, they listen, they smell, they touch (palpate). They may need to collect samples from the animal to find out what's wrong. These actions cannot be performed by laymen. At the very least, a vet staff is required.

Another example, I am an ophthalmology focused vet (cannot call myself specialist due to technical issue), most often I get consultation requests from general practitioners. They would tell me the result of their examinations and sometimes with photos. They would usually ask for my diagnosis list and what to do next. I might ask for more info, for example : because an eye is a 3D structure, a flat photo might not tell me enough. I would usually ask for a short clip of the eye in different angles. I might ask for more tests like Fluorescine stain (which the other person must know what it is and how to do it) I might ask them to perform some reflex tests (which they have to know how to do) and once enough info are compiled, I can give them the most likely diagnosis and recommend their next plan. If they do not have enough tools, my recommendation sometimes would be to send the patient to me (or to other specialist).

I hope this answers your question.

[beetlejuicesgraveyardrevue]

hahahahaha how cool and fun for me. just got an email from plume (the service I use to get my T prescribed and do quarterly blood labs) basically saying ‘we probably won’t be able to provide our service in florida soon because of SB 254 so…… fill up on your prescriptions! we’ll do what we can!’…… i fucking hate it here.

[auntie-doom]

Can I please get recommendations for telemedicine POTS specialists? Got a friend newly diagnosed and can't find a POTS doctor, complicated POTS, neeeeds solid assistance.

[champstorymedia]

Innovations in Hospital Care: A Look at the Cutting-Edge Technologies Shaping the Industry

Introduction In today’s rapidly advancing healthcare landscape, hospitals are continuously seeking ways to improve patient care, increase efficiency, and enhance outcomes through the integration of cutting-edge technologies. From telemedicine solutions to artificial intelligence, the innovations in hospital care are revolutionizing the way healthcare is delivered. Let’s delve into some of the…

[123virtualclinic]

Find the Benefits of Telehealth Care with Virtual Clinic in Burnaby | 123 Walkin

It's practical and beneficial to receive medical care online, especially if you use a Burnaby virtual clinic. By following these tips and being adequately prepared, you can get the most out of your first virtual medical appointment. Thus, if you're looking for the best virtual clinic in Burnaby, 123 Walkin is the only way to book an online appointment in British Columbia. The ease of virtual clinics in Burnaby and the progress made in technology can help you keep your health.

[treatian123]

Discover Convenient Online Medical Health Services with Treatians

Explore a comprehensive range of online medical health services at Treatians. From virtual consultations to remote diagnostics, our platform offers convenient access to expert healthcare professionals from the comfort of your home. Join our community today and prioritize your well-being with ease.

[fenrislorsrai]

The long-term goal, Wales said, is to work with a network of doctors or clinics across the state so that women don’t have to travel to Wichita or the Kansas City area to obtain abortion medications.

Patients in states with more restrictive abortion laws still would have to travel to Kansas, as they do now. Doctors doing the teleconsulting also would have to be licensed to practice medicine in Kansas, as they must be now.

For now, Planned Parenthood Great Plains is using existing staff and physicians to offer telemedicine abortion consultations to patients in Wichita. Wales said while the clinic sometimes has a doctor there three or four days a week, one day a week is typical. Her affiliate’s medical director, Dr. Iman Alsaden, said there would have been no abortion appointments Monday in Wichita without teleconferencing.

The Planned Parenthood affiliate already offers some telehealth services, such as refilling birth control prescriptions or gender-affirming care visits for transgender patients. Wales said it’s still deciding day-by-day how quickly to expand telemedicine abortion appointments.

Abortion providers had to wait until this year for a clearer picture of the legality of telemedicine abortions. The statewide vote in August preserved a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in April 2019 that access to abortion is a “fundamental” right under the state constitution.

The vote came as Trust Women was pursuing a lawsuit to against the state’s ban on telemedicine abortions. That lawsuit led to the state-court judge’s order blocking enforcement of the Kansas telemedicine abortion ban.

“We’re pretty confident that the courts are on our side and that we have a very strong legal leg to stand on,” said Erin Thompson, Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ general counsel.

[uniteddoctors]

Telemedicine Services:

Telemedicine is the trading of clinical data utilizing electronic sources, which further develops a patient’s well-being status. Telemedicine has various uses and can be utilized for various administrations, which incorporate different strategies for broadcast communications innovation such as emails, video calls, smartphones, and other wireless technologies. Telemedicine is likewise alluded to normally as virtual consideration or “online specialist”. It is the association between doctors or specialists and patients from isolated areas employing digital communication such as video calls or audio calls. Telemedicine services, empower doctors and other medical field experts to assess, analyze, and treat patients utilizing far-off innovation, cutting the difficulty of boundaries and distances.

United Doctors Medical Center

Address: 2812 Old Lee Hwy, Fairfax, VA 22031, United States.

Phone No: 703-573-0086

Visit Our Website: www.udmedicalcenter.com

[autisticadvocacy]

The government works for us and needs to know what the autistic community’s priorities are for autism research! Submit your public comments to the IACC by March 22. 

[azitts]

Cancer Care: Impact of Telemedicine on Positive Health Outcome

We have all been through tough times, especially during the pandemic, and we have all realized the importance of telehealth services. By sitting in our homes, we could get all the services we want, be it for COVID-19 or cancer. Having telehealth and telemedicine services was a blessing in disguise during those tough years.

The National Cancer Institute researched the number of telehealth visits during the pandemic. The finding was based on the analysis of 25,500 telehealth visits. Out of this, more than 11,600 were diagnosed with cancer. They were getting telehealth services and were virtually consulting the clinicians. This shows that there has been an increase in the number of people who have started trusting telemedicine services.

In this article, we will be discussing the positive health outcomes of telemedicine services. However, there are some important things to consider as well. For instance, there are things you need to discuss before receiving telemedicine services. This includes scheduling an appointment and explaining the necessary in-person hospital visits, medication follow-ups, and post-treatment care.

Discussing all these can help individuals get relief from long waiting hours just to schedule their appointments or visit a doctor. During the virtual consultations, the individual also needs to understand and discuss the care plans. Both the doctors and the individuals should be informed about the diagnosis date, tumor stage, schedules, treatment facilities, nutrition, pain management, and health concerns.

Thanks to telemedicine services, no one today has to wait for longer hours and get help anytime they want. You can get professional help with a single tap all at once. Therefore, all you need to do is book your schedule.

If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, telehealth appointments can save you time and money. In the following, we are going to look at some points to discuss how telemedicine services can help individuals diagnosed with cancer. These points will provide insight into how the healthcare industry has revolutionized faster.

Unlocking the Benefits of Telemedicine Services for Cancer Care

Living with a loved one diagnosed with cancer can turn life upside down. Treatment costs can vary depending on the type of care needed. Be it medications or a cancer care management plan, you just need the right kind of treatment that may cost money. Forget about the expenses related to travel and other medications.

That’s why telehealth services are introduced to help out loved ones with cancer care. In the following, let’s take a look at the numerous benefits of telemedicine services for people diagnosed with cancer.

Meeting Specialized Oncologist

Comprehensive care is needed in the healthcare industry. With an introduction to the telephonic healthcare industry, you get to meet the right specialized doctor for your treatment virtually. There is no need to travel long distances just to meet the doctor. Tap on the screen, get connected to a specialized oncologist virtually, and get help with medical appointments. Due to long waiting hours, there are times when individuals have to wait to get in touch with special care. Telehealth appointments with specialized healthcare professionals get easier.

Reduce Travel Time

There are times when individuals diagnosed with terminal illnesses have difficulty traveling to healthcare providers. They need enough rest and travel restrictions because of the drastic impact on their health. They may get car sickness or have chronic pain due to illnesses. However, with telehealth urgent care, time travel is reduced to some extent. The individual can get help anytime because specialized care is available and they don’t have to travel long hours. The specialized oncologists are here to help the individuals right away with treatment and care.

Regular Health Monitoring

Chronic illnesses can cause several health issues that have long-term effects. That’s why one needs regular health monitoring. However, going to medical institutions can be time-consuming and have a drastic effect on your health. The doctors keep tabs on the vital signs and the symptoms evolving because of the illnesses. That’s why telemedicine appointments can help you a great deal to check on the health of a loved one.

Getting Timely Consultations

Gone are the days when one had to wait for long hours to get a doctor’s appointment. You can simply book your medical schedule right on the phone. The virtual appointments get easier, and one can keep tabs on their health. Getting timely consultations can help you reduce the signs and symptoms of the illness and get the test results online. You don’t need to visit the healthcare center to get the results or speak to the doctor.

Improved Medications with Time

The condition of the illnesses may change over time, so you need to continuously stay updated about your medical updates and health concerns. Having improved medications and knowing about medication management can help an individual take better care of himself or herself. How so? The individual will learn about the adverse impact of medications on health, whether on the phone or online.

In Conclusion,

Telemedicine services have completely transformed the healthcare sector by reducing travel time and improving medications simply by keeping tabs on medical health help needed at times. With timely telehealth appointments, one gets timely consultations about medical health and keeps track of health monitoring.

Thanks to telemedicine services, educating individuals has never been so easy. Today, millions of people have been taking advantage of telemedicine in the long run. Indubitable telemedicine services, in the coming times, will gain extra support from the government and the people as well.

When it comes to cancer care, telehealth counseling can help you save a lot of time and money because you don’t need to wait for prolonged hours. This helps your body get enough rest and provides mental health support in times of utmost need.