In the Midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Now Is the Time to Ramp Up Telemedicine

by Jennifer Fink •

Me: “Hello?”

Patient from somewhere: “Hello. Can you see me?”

Me: “No, I can see a bottle of Off! and an empty chair.”

Patient: “Oh, I’m on the other side. I can’t figure out how to change the camera.”

Me: “No problem! Can you either turn the phone around or move to the other side?”

Patient: “Good idea. Hold on…” (Ruffling noise and blurry movements on camera)

(New scene: Empty chair on the opposite side of the kitchen table, same bottle of “Off!” The patient has turned the phone around and moved to other side.)

Patient: “How about now?”

Me: “Um, I see an empty chair, I think on the other side of the kitchen table.”

Patient: (realizing the situation) “Oh, right! That wouldn’t work; silly me. (flips phone around) How about now?”

Me: (finally seeing the patient) Never been better! What brings you into the ‘office’ today?”

Michael M. Johns, MD, director, USC Voice Center; division director, laryngology professor, USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Los Angeles

“I found this comment in one of the daily positivity emails I send to my division: ‘Seeing children smile from their home setting, in their PJs, snuggling with their stuffed animals next to their parents, or running outside, completely unaware of the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, fills my heart.’ These past few weeks of telehealth have shown me that healing is possible through answering questions and providing information and reassurance.”

Julie Wei, MD, division chief of pediatric otolaryngology, Nemours Children’s Hospital, Orlando