Research compiled by neurologists from Northwell Health in Manhasset, N.Y., suggests patients recovering from stroke prefer video conferencing with physicians to the traditional phone call for follow-up care. The research further shows that younger stroke patients, ages 55 and below, would unanimously request the technology.
These findings are in keeping with the national trend of embracing telemedicine.
This would be a good place to briefly describe the study. How many people did they survey? What were the findings? This is good info to always include when covering a study or a survey of any kind.
One of the study's co-authors, Jeffery M. Katz, MD, chief of neurovascular services and director of the Stroke Center at North Shore University Hospital, said, "People like seeing their physicians face-to-face, and a telephone call is obviously less personal... It's also better to be able to see our patients because we learn a lot by looking at someone. We're not just getting information from their voices. As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words."
Through video conferencing, patients and physicians would be able to work through any confusion about medications intimately. It would also allow physicians to track the patient's physical symptoms. The hope is that video calls will reduce the post-stroke readmission rate.
"We could certainly see another phase of our study going forward in patients who express a preference for video calls to determine, on our end, if there's really a medical benefit," said Dr. Katz.