MEDICAL YEAR IN REVIEW
Telehealth:
The Silver Lining of the Pandemic By Ivelisse Velázquez Negrón, MD
A
t the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, adjusting to virtual interactions was one of the most frustrating limitations that many of us encountered. This frustration was shared among most of my peers, that after months of being confined to our houses and finishing medical school through virtual didactics, were craving a more personal connection. However, safety has always been the number one priority. Within time, we all adapted to this new form of practicing medicine. We learned and made it work for us and for our patients. More than a transitional period, this was going to be a new era, and medicine was going to change before and after COVID-19. Telehealth was here to stay. In the blink of an eye, I was starting my second year of psychiatric residency. I was at Geriatrics printing out my schedule and to my surprise, had a fair share of virtual visits. The average age of the clinic was 76 years old, so I mistakenly thought that my patients would not be “on board” with doing virtual visits. As I reviewed their charts, I noted that most of them were vaccinated, so I wondered why they preferred a “MyChart video visit” rather than coming to the clinic they had been coming to for years. I was determined to find out the reason behind this. Certainly, during my intern year I experienced all the struggles you can imagine with technology. One example was not knowing how a
14
SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • December 2021
COW (computer on wheels – it took me a while to figure that one out too) connects to the internet; I admit that I was not fond of technology, especially in an acute psychiatric setting. However, it seems that the experience was different for most of my patients, and surprisingly, even more so for the elderly. “Good morning, I’m Dr. Velazquez, can you hear me?” Audio is connecting. “Hi, Dr. Velazquez, can you hear us?” “Yes, I can, can you see me?” I asked. “Yes, I can, can you see us?” they asked me. I started my first assessment with a new patient. She told me that she had not seen a doctor for a while since she lived in a town 90 miles away from San Antonio, and at least 60 minutes away from the nearest medical facility. Her family lived on a ranch, and they had not been out for a long time since their adult daughter had a severe neurodevelopmental disorder and was almost fully dependent on her. She confided that it was a lot of work and said she appreciated the fact that she was able to get care through a video call. A similar story was told by another patient who was relieved that Medicaid was covering video visits since she did not drive anymore. She explained to me that her husband was physically unable to drive her to San Antonio for her medical appointments. At the end of the day, I realized that what started as a solution for a Public Health Emer-
