The U.W. School of Medicine announced that it is starting a “virtual clinic” in cooperation with a Seattle-based telemedicine company. Under their project, patients who have non-life-threatening health issues can use the virtual clinic for a modest fee. The announcement states that the service will be available “when you need it and where you need it, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without an appointment.” A board-certified family practice physicians and nurse practitioners “offer healthcare for minor conditions in the privacy of your own home or office.”

The virtual clinic provides can assess, diagnose and recommend treatment via secure video chat or over the phone. Prescriptions or renewals can be provided. If follow-up is needed, the patient can be referred to another physician, such as a specialist, and help will be provided to make that appointment. At the end of the “virtual doctor visit,” a summary of the visit will be sent via email.

This kind of virtual clinic is also being provided by other health-care institutions, including Franciscan Health Care in Tacoma. The concept of using modern technology to facilitate health care is growing very fast. For many years, radiology imaging films have been viewed by distant radiologists, sometimes located in another country. The availability of such radiology services has been a boon for smaller and more rural hospitals who do not have radiologists on site. Even in a hospital setting, critical care physicians often provide services to one or more departments within the hospital from a specialized unit where the physician can see the patient through in-room cameras and consult with the bed-side provider in emergencies. A recent development has been off-site operative neuro-physiologic monitoring during spine surgeries. One neuro specialist can monitor several surgeries at the same time, even if occurring in different hospitals.

As with all new developments involving electronic or digital transmittal of data, there is always the risk of breakdowns or glitches. As we all know, computers and electronic systems are wonderful when they work, but there is always a risk in relying exclusively on them, especially when it involves medical care.