Telehealth: Quick Patient Care in 2025

A Virtual Revolution in Telehealth through the Eyes of a Final-Year Medical Student—A Moment I Will Never Forget.

As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, I found myself in the last year of my medical school. in the TechAI MD platform, we will discuss in detail How remote patient care becomes possible with this technology

The entire world was falling apart. Our hospital already deranged and healthcare system got tossed out of existence in a matter of months, and now people were barely able to receive assistance in the form of appointments in clinics or hospitals.

I was in my clinical placement with Dr. Sergei, an experienced doctor and medic who had a soft voice and great skills related to care.

At one point in time, Dr. Sergei said to me, “You will understand why this is so relevant in today’s world.” He began connecting his laptop for what can easier be understood as a virtual appointment.

“Today’s first consultation will be with a single mother named Sarah,” (all names changed due to privacy concerns), said one of the assistants to the doctor. Sarah, as I learned within the interaction, was a single parent with a young daughter, Mia, who had been dealing with a rash and a low-grade fever.

Sarah was in urgent need of assistance. She’d either risk interacting with COVID-19 patients at the clinic or even worse, take a day off work and get no help at all. In a calm manner, Dr. Sergei explained to Sarah everything while hearing her and talking to Mia while also showcasing a promising persona.

Dr. Sergei after a few questions, said, “Viral exanthem, mild to moderate in degree.” Applying healing creams to Mia, he comforted Sarah, telling her that Mia would get better in a couple of days. With this in perspective, I saw the role of telehealth: it was not just a technology—it was a hope.

Grasping e-Health

• Telehealth consists of remote patient monitoring, mobile health applications, and virtual consultations. It’s a little bit more than just video/audio calling your physician.
• For instance, in remote patient monitoring, blood pressure cuffs for instance can give live data straight to the physician.
• In mobile health applications, symptoms can be logged and patients can contact their doctors with ease, while in telemedicine diagnosis is achieved via video and phone consultations.
• For Sarah and many other patients, it’s not just about convenience, it’s much more than that. It’s a game changer.

E-Health through the lens of a Histroy of Medicine professor

I remember the time Dr. Sergei was my oral history of medicine professor. It was during my course when he told about ensuring the health of astronauts into the telephenomenon of Software for Space Health Management.

Intersting History of Telehealth ?

• Well, I know it started in NASA, but quite honestly I am a bit fascinated by how it all started.
• It seems a bit of a fantasy that NASA was the one to initiate such development, but it’s the truth.
• When the 60s hit in, NASA had the operational capacity to comfortably develop remote monitoring software to carry out physician practitioner space health management on astronauts, enabling seamless workflow.
• Those programs laid the foundations of telemedicine. Moving on from the space industry to the dot com boom, which was the 90s era, the internet began to become publicly more widely available, allowing for the utilization of the development in practice, starting with email consultations and a few telemedicine programs.
• Then boom, COVID 19. Isolation as a necessity or isolation for some telehealth became the norm of 2020.
• Everything got disrupted and revolutionized for good.

The Future of Telehealth and Its Offerings: A Look Ahead

Dr. Sergey always projected visions of the future. “Telehealth is not just about accessibility” is how he said it, “It is about rethinking what can be assumed to be the frontiers of modern medicine with technology, equity, and humanity at its core”.

AI-Powered Diagnoses: Quick Telehealth Tool

We envision a virtual assistant who not only detects risks but also recognizes symptoms of illness.

Imagine a clock that is always one step ahead. Technology without a doubt has a massive role to play in Medicine.

AI will completely transform the industry and enhance patient care. The proactive care will only extend, making for a very promising future. The future of AI diagnosing seems promising.

Global Accessibility: Healthcare Without Borders

This is nothing but a metaphoric dream of equality coming to fruition. The gaps in geography will cease to exist as telehealth penetrates underprivileged areas and remotely connects them with elite physicians using mobile devices and virtual consultations.

A child living in a remote village having the same healthcare services as that of a city child. Not only is this a step to progress, rather a step towards a revolution to equity on a much larger scale.

Virtual Reality (VR) Therapies: Healing in a New Dimension

Imagine controlling your phobias through virtual simulations or sitting on a virtual beach while all your pain is in the past. VR is set to provide stroke therapy and advanced mental treatments which will allow getting rid of the illnesses while also specializing in therapies that soothe the mind, right from the comfort of your home, all with the help of a headset.

Remote Surgery: Precision Without Proximity

Telepresence Surgery: Distance isn’t an Obstacle

The thought of a distant surgeon operating on a tele-transplantee is absolute madness. But the advancement of telesurgery has started to emerge from the depths of the imagination’s fathoms. With the use of high-speed 5G networks, it allows patients in hard-to-reach locations to receive robotic approximation surgeries. This isn’t futuristic; this is a real game-changing moment

Dr. Sergei’s words have a certain ring of realism: “If you think healthcare improves with doctors leaving their offices rather than relying on technology, look again: this is how technology improves care. Every care gap will be filled, and we will live in a world where there is no one who is in pain or dies without hope.” The realm of virtual care isn’t a thing of the future; it’s being practiced today.

Myths vs Facts – Telehealth

Myth	Fact
Telehealth is only for minor illnesses.	Telehealth is effective for chronic disease management, mental health, and follow-ups.
Older adults can’t use telehealth.	Many seniors adapt quickly, often with minimal guidance from family.
It’s not secure.	Most platforms comply with HIPAA regulations, ensuring data privacy.

Common Conditions for Telehealth

Condition	✅ Suitable for Telehealth	❌ Not Suitable for Telehealth
Cold, Flu, or Allergies	✅
Chronic Diseases (e.g., diabetes)	✅
Mental Health Issues	✅
Severe Abdominal or Chest Pain	❌ Requires in-person evaluation
Post-Surgical Follow-Ups	✅

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An Interesting Case During My Rotation

One day, Dr. Sergei and I were calling on a patient, Lisa (a professional), who suffered from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). She was a patient who had not gotten tested for therapy due to stigma and hassle for years now.

Due to teletherapy, she was able to have frequent appointments with her therapist at home. Dr. Sergei supervised and prescribed new medications to the patient whenever necessary.

By the time all her plans were completed, Lisa’s anxiety was much better, and her self-esteem had improved.

This event illustrated how telehealth could break down barriers to mental health care, offering discreet and accessible solutions.

Final thoughts

As I wrapped up my last year, telehealth went from being termed the future to the centerpiece of my work. I feel today, as a practicing witness, that telehealth revolutionized medical practice, as a patient now does not have to wait for their turn; rather, they can help themselves without any effort.

The most powerful lesson I had learned from Dr. Sergei, a learning that will stay with me for a lifetime was that telehealth is not just a tool; Telehealth is a form of a bridge that will help to overcome the impediments of time and distance between the patient and the doctor

Reference

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4193577

Read more at Effects and Effectiveness of Telemedicine, National Library of Medicine