VN June 2020

Vetnuus | Junie 2020 8 Am I the only one to interpret this as “do telephone consults at your own peril”? As always seems to be the case, the final sentence carries a stick and does not really give one the freedom to practice telemedicine. The question is: Is this the right approach? Has the time not come to look into the potential benefits of good tele- practice? In an article published by the North American Veterinary Community and written by Mia Cary, DVM, NAVC Chief Collaboration Officer/Veterinary Innovation Council Executive Director and Aaron Massecar, PhD, Veterinary Innovation Council Telehealth Project Manager, the following definitions are provided: • Telehealth : The overarching term that encompasses all uses of technology geared to remotely deliver health information, education, or care. • Telemedicine : A subcategory of telehealth that is a tool, or use of a tool, to augment the practice of veterinary medicine (e.g., using Skype or an app to communicate with a client and visualise the patient for a postoperative follow-up examination and discussion). • Teleconsulting : A subcategory of telehealth that occurs when a general practice veterinarian uses telehealth tools to communicate with a veterinary specialist to gain insights and advice on the care of a patient. If one applies these, we probably have all been practicing some form of telehealth without realising it. Phoning a client to check on how Pasha is doing after his operation, or asking a client to WhatsApp a picture of the surgical wound to check on healing, or “phoning a friend” – a fellow general practitioner or veterinary specialist to discuss a case or ask for advice, all are part of telehealth. Many of our CCS colleagues probably practice teleconsulting when faced by a challenge while at some remote location by phoning a mentor or practitioner where they did one of their elective clinics. Different from telemedicine, where one relies on a client with no training and often poor observational skills, and different in that the final diagnosis/decision lies with the practitioner who has examined the animal. In the same article, the authors agree that telehealth should only be used in a responsible manner, to extend more healthcare to more animals. Examples of tools that can and should be used include emails, texts, WhatsApp, phone calls, sending photos and videos end live videos. They continue to list telehealth scenarios that they see being used most frequently and with the greatest success: • Postoperative follow-up (automated monitoring systems are becoming more reliable and could play a role here) • Dermatologic concerns Leading Article Telehealth in Veterinary Practice <<< 07 >>> 9