Patient Phone Consultation Form

May 11, 2019

Access to health is one of the basic rights of human beings. In the modern world, where technology has taken over almost every aspect of life and made a lot of things easier in a man’s life, it has also helped in making health approachable for the common people.

Face-to-face consultations have their significance but in most of the remote and less developed parts of the world, where the world’s largest population lives, access to health facilities is nearly nonexistent. With the advancement of technology, especially communication technology, scientists have done multiple experiments and research to determine the efficacy of telemedicine, and they have found encouraging results.

Telemedicine, as the name indicates, is the method of treating patients from a distance through telecommunication. Telemedicine includes phone consultations, video consultations, and online consultations.

Advantages of telemedicine

Telephone and video consultations are part of the healthcare system, and at the primary level, the basic consultation and counseling of the patient carry more importance than the actual treatment. It is more helpful in decreasing the burden of filtering outpatient departments at a tertiary level. Studies have shown that telemedicine is equally effective in raising awareness and making health care accessible for remotely residing people as face-to-face consultation.

Management of many acute conditions is possible through phone consultations, and in cases of emergencies, triage and timely referral have saved many lives. But the most important role telemedicine has been playing in prevention before cure. As said earlier, patients can be counseled, and a lot of diseases and injuries can be prevented before they even arise.

Phone consultation form

Documentation is one of the building blocks of the healthcare system at any level. They say healthcare not documented is not the care provided. So, it makes it more important that a phone consultation is properly documented. Documentation is the only means and only evidence that a certain patient has been examined and referred to a proper clinic. If not done properly, the concept of telemedicine fails because there is no record of the patient or limited follow-up.

How a phone consultation form is filled out?

The phone consultation form is filled out by the doctor who is attending to the patient on call. Very careful and proper documentation is required because it is important for healthcare system data as well as for research and follow-up purposes.

Confirming a patient’s identity during documentation is a very important step. Be very careful when you are filling out the form, and it is ideal if you fill it out while examining it and try to maintain eye contact during the consultation. Leaving the form to be filled out at the end of consultations raises much confusion, and there are high chances of mixing the signs, symptoms, findings, and treatment of one patient with another.

The address of the patient is noted down for follow-up, which is an important pillar in health-providing systems. After that, start taking a history of presenting complaints, try to note down vitals or systemic examinations, write down the management plan at the end, and document properly.