The Importance of Teleradiology Amid Covid 19

The days of visiting typically crowded places like hospitals and restaurants are behind us courtesy the COVID-19 virus. With social distancing and limited physical contact becoming the new normal, most physical services are evolving to be suitable for the post COVID world. The most popular amongst them are medical services. Since most people are even more cautious of visiting hospitals due to fear of infection. One branch of telemedicine that has become even more popular in teleradiology. What is teleradiology and how is it significant in the COVID world? Let’s find out.

What is Teleradiology?

Radiology is the science of capturing images of the internal body. The purpose is to diagnose an illness and determining its treatment. As you can imagine, radiology is a widely used practice in clinics, urgent care centers, hospitals, and imaging companies due to its significance in identifying potential diseases. Some common radiology techniques include x-rays, CT (computed tomography) scans, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging, and many others.

Teleradiology involves a simple three step process which goes as follows:

First, to get the patient’s scans and medical imaging
Second, these scans are studied and interpreted by radiologists
Finally, the radiologists share their findings with the patient or doctor who has recommended the test

If you’re wondering what makes teleradiology different from radiology, it’s the fact that radiologists don’t need to be in the same location as the patient to offer their services. This doesn’t just offer patients better care than they would have otherwise received. But also removes the geographical constraints many patients face when it comes to receiving quality care. Let’s look at some of the advantages of teleradiology.

Advantages

The biggest advantage of teleradiology is that it allows patients to receive better care. Since radiologists don’t need to be physically present. This is especially important if the case requires a radiology specialist to step in and study the medical images. Since most of these specialists live in big cities, teleradiology makes access to them easier by removing all geographical barriers.
Courtesy its digital nature, radiology allows for better collaboration between doctors and radiologists. With advancing teleradiology technology, radiology specialists can effectively diagnose symptoms in collaboration with other radiologists and doctors. Essentially, teleradiology makes getting a second professional opinion much easier since all the patient data is available digitally.
Teleradiology functions as a boon for smaller hospitals that don’t have a dedicated radiology department. Using teleradiology services, these hospitals can offer better treatment to their patients without having to physically send patient data to another location or even city.

The Importance of Teleradiology in COVID-19

By its very nature, any telemedicine service is perfectly suited for a post-COVID world where physical contact is being limited. With many parts of the world still being in lockdown and access to quality medical care being restricted, teleradiology allows for patient scans and images to be transferred rapidly. This rapidness is especially crucial when doctors want to focus on the impact of the virus on a positive patient through x-rays and CT scans. Time is of the essence is just cases and teleradiology allows for quick transfer of patient data to the relevant medical professionals.

Teleradiology is also a blessing when doctors themselves have tested positive and are quarantining at home. With digital access to patient data, they can still diagnose and treat patients without having to step out of their home. While there might be radiologists who need to be physically present at the hospital for performing procedures, most others can report on cases offsite.

With the virus seemingly here to stay, the significance of teleradiology will increase exponentially since patients can get the care they deserve without having to step into a hospital and doctors can diagnose patients more quickly without having to wait days for the reports coming in from another city.

How to Set up a Teleradiology Practice?

It’s clear that there’s a lot of value to teleradiology, particularly in the COVID-19 era. If you’re looking to launch a teleradiology platform where radiologists can offer their services and patients can book online consultations, we have just the solution for you. Panther, a powerful SaaS Telemedicine software development platform that allows you to build your very own teleradiology platform without having to invest millions of dollars or years on development. Some features that make Panther the go-to solution for building a teleradiology practice include:

Your teleradiology platform app will be created using SaaS and not a custom script. This means much lesser app issues, faster loading time, and most importantly, faster launch time. Since there’s no coding required, you can get started in a couple of clicks.
With Panther, your teleradiology platform will be super easy to use. Patients can sign up on the app, list their ailments and choose a doctor from the list available. The doctor will then offer them consultation services through call, video, or chat to ensure quick and easy diagnosis and treatment.
To ensure doctor’s payment is regularly and fair, Panther offers the option for patients to pay after each consultation. The platform also has multiple payment gateways for quick and safe transactions.
For any teleradiology app, the biggest selling point is an easy appointment booking widget. When you choose Panther for your teleradiology app development, you can be assure for a hassle-free appointment booking process for new and returning patients. To ensure fewer no-shows, patients also receive reminder notifications on their phones.
Doctors can update their working hours on the teleradiology app and their availability on the app will be toggled accordingly. Patients can also book an appointment for their preferred time.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the features that make Panther the go-to partner for your teleradiology app development. If you’re running a teleradiology practice, be ready to face a lot of competition amid the pandemic. To counter this, you can make data-driven decisions to enhance your business using an online medical consultation app.

Got questions about how Panther can help you make your practice better organized and profitable? Get in touch with our experts for an in-depth breakdown of everything Panther can do for you.