To facilitate access to dermatology consultations, the Government of Quebec will deploy a telemedicine platform, which will allow general practitioners to call on specialists to make a diagnosis.
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“General practitioners who request a teleconsultation in dermatology, instead of sending the patient and the dermatologist seeing him and taking care of him. They give “feedback” to the general practitioner who consults them via this platform”, summed up Dr. Vincent Oliva, president of the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMSQ).
No question therefore, that the patient himself takes a photo of his problem to send it. “The tools with the patient will come in a second time, in another form”, for her part indicated Dr. Dominique Hanna, president of the Association of medical specialists dermatologists of Quebec (AMSDQ).
Dermatology is currently the specialty that receives the most consultation requests. According to the government and representatives of doctors, the new platform will therefore reduce delays for the general public.
“Between 50 to 75% of patients can be treated in teledermatology and do not need to be seen in person. Dermatology is an image specialty. Our analysis is based on a visual analysis of the disease,” Dr. Hanna revealed.
The Virtual Care Platform (VCP) has been tested over the past few months in selected regions. The positive results encouraged the advancement of the deployment schedule. Starting July 4, it will be available in all regions of Quebec.
Last March, the Auditor General of Quebec indicated, in a report, that telemedicine during the pandemic could have harmed the quality of care, because its use was poorly regulated.
“At the start of the pandemic, the stakes were very high, but I think we also learned a lot. […] Here, what is important is to treat patients as quickly as possible. We have seen that telemedicine works,” explained Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services.
Reference-www.journaldequebec.com