American Medical Association – swyMed
Most people would agree that a strong doctor-patient relationship is crucial to helping the patient maintain optimal health. Traditionally, this relationship has been cultivated during in-person office visits. With the advent of telemedicine, however, debate has centered on whether telemedicine visits contain enough doctor-patient interaction to build a trusting relationship and provide enough data for the doctor to make an accurate diagnosis. Most recently, the American College of Physicians (ACP) clarified their position on the issue: First-time visits that are conducted via telemedicine must include a live audio-visual component. Read more
Considering that telemedicine is a relative newcomer to the practice of medicine—compared to, say, ECG, which is well over a century old—it may come as no surprise that no formalized telemedicine training currently exists at the medical student or resident level. To correct this, the American Medical Association (AMA) recently adopted a policy to make sure that medical students and residents know how to utilize telemedicine in clinical practice. More specifically, the policy urges the accrediting bodies to add core competencies for telemedicine to their programs. Read more