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telemedicine ramps up AT SCHEIE DURING CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
By Alexandra Brodin
Dr. Mina Massaro in a telemedicine appointment.
In March, the Scheie Eye Institute began offering telemedicine services as an option to non-urgent patients in order to practice social distancing and limit the spread of COVID-19. All urgent patients were still seen in person. Telemedicine refers to clinical services, such as diagnosis and disease management, that are offered through telecommunications technology, including consultations and follow-up visits over videoconference. Telemedicine is distinct from telehealth, which is a broader term that includes non-clinical services, such as continuing medical education.
The most evident advantage of practicing telemedicine during a pandemic is that patients and physicians do not risk exposure to the virus through an in-person visit. Ophthalmologists were at an especially high risk during the height of the pandemic, when personal protective equipment (PPE) was more limited, because proper eye examination often requires close proximity to the patient. Telemedicine became an alternative option for Scheie physicians to continue to care for their patients. “I was really quite surprised at how much I could see on the surface of the eye through the video,� said Scheie dry eye disease (DED) specialist Mina Massaro-Giordano, MD.
At Scheie, all non-urgent appointments (including elective services, non-urgent follow-ups, routine eye screenings, and optical shop appointments) were cancelled starting on March 16, 2020. Patients who had their appointments cancelled were given the option to have an appointment via telemedicine.
Although social distancing was the primary benefit, other advantages to using telemedicine have emerged in the last several months. The standardization of telemedicine creates new options for patients with chronic disabilities and immunodeficiencies, who may have been hesitant to come onsite for care even before the pandemic.
