Technology helps doctors treat patients from afar during COVID-19 pandemic


Technology helps doctors treat patients from afar during COVID-19 pandemic

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Instead of in-person visits, teleconference technology can offer physicians a birds-eye-view of COVID-19 in the community.

Using technology developed to
treat people in remote areas, emergency medicine physician, Dr Tobias Khare has
been using telemedicine to screen patients who may be just blocks away from his
North Side immediate care clinic.

On a recent day of care,
Khare’s patients agreed to let WGN News capture their appointments during the virtual
visit.

Khare asked patients about
temperature, travel, shortness of breath, etc.

“At this time on this date,
we are seeing a lot of worry,” he told WGN News. “But we also know the trajectory
of this virus, based on other countries. So I see the tidal wave. We all see it.”

If Khare decides a patient needs
testing, he has kits in-house, tubes and swabs. Some of his supply came from
the Illinois Dept of Public Health, others from Quest Diagnostics, the outside
lab he regularly uses for routine lab work. And he was able to scrape up a few
dozen more from fellow doctors around the city.

Right now he has about 40
tests left for those with insurance who may not qualify through the health
department.

“Because if we get our test
from a private institution, we can run this test through and private insurance
pays,” he said. “And I can be less selective about the patients I test. And I
think that’s important because some people have high fevers going on for three
days but they don’t know if they have been exposed.”

But there has been a common
prescription for the majority of patients he’s evaluated.

“Reassurance,” Khare said. ‘We
reassure people that they are going to be ok.”

Khare has performed 110
screenings since last Thursday. So far, he’s ordered testing for 10 of those
patients. All have come back negative.


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