WHY THIS SITE

Physicians' online presence includes information about their qualifications, skills, and general practice. Online presence is very important nowadays for physicians and can be of great benefit to patients, to colleagues in the specific scientific field, to students and residents, and finally to physicians themselves.

I think physicians should have a website, because people would be able to look at up-to-date qualifications and expertise and not from different sources. Physicians can update their site with new information about the research they are conducting or if something has changed in their practice.

An example might simply be the one that applies to my case: it is true that an orthopedic surgeon can easily distinguish and treat the basic pathologies of all anatomical districts (back, foot, knee) because during his training he has worked in all these fields and probably, especially if he works in a hospital, he has to deal every day with pathologies and problems affecting all joint districts. But in most cases he will have specialized in one specific field.

The reasons for this superspecialization are many, to name a few the possibility of keeping up to date with the literature and scientific advances in that particular field (it would be impossible nowadays to keep up to date with everything!) and to be able to offer better treatment to one's patients and the possibility of focusing one's surgical practice so as to decrease the risks, which are always present in any kind of surgery, and increase the success rate.

The surgeon's website is a quick and effective way to provide patients with information about their health. The site can and should ideally provide patients with clear and concise advice on how to improve their health, but also a warning: advice should be taken with caution and not followed blindly.

There are generally two types of patients: those who want to investigate and learn more about their problem and those who want to know nothing about their problem (due to a small dose of hypochondria that is present in all of us!) and just want the solution, possibly as quickly as possible.

For the first type of patients, the website offers valuable resources specific to their problem that enable them to better understand what the solutions may be and how to heal more quickly.

For the second type of patients, however, you can try to make them understand that the magic wand does not exist and that any kind of healing is the work of the body and takes time, and the surgeon or pill can only be a guide, a catalyst to push the body in the right direction.

One of the most important aspects to consider when working with patients is establishing a relationship of trust. The better the relationship, the greater the adherence to the proposed therapeutic treatment and the better the final outcome.

The goal of most physicians is to provide the best patient care, but practitioners' websites should also serve this purpose, not just as an "online resume."

Before meeting and seeing a doctor, it is good to learn more about the doctor and his or her specialty and how the visit is conducted. Consult this website site for more information about what I do specifically and how you can get in touch with me.

Doctors, including myself, spend an enormous amount of time with patients discussing trade-offs between different alternatives. It takes a lot of time and is not "reimbursed."

But physicians' time is often very limited. In a recent survey, physicians said they spend an average of only 10 minutes with each patient. Extra time is also needed for tasks that have nothing to do with direct patient care, such as administrative work, reporting, insurance paperwork and hospital regulations.

Online medical consultation can sometimes save patients and doctors a lot of money.

In the vast majority of cases, online consultation in the orthopedic field cannot be performed except after an examination physically performed in person. In fact, there are many clinical examinations that need to be performed by the orthopedic surgeon on the patient that cannot in any way be done via video call, even if it is of quality. The physician would risk missing some details of the patient's clinic and thus incur a serious omission in patient care.

As a general rule, it should be specified that an online orthopedic examination can never replace a live physical examination, but it can be a valuable complement to it today and even more so in the future.

There are a few scenarios that may see a video-conferencing service as useful for then facilitating a live examination. Let's look at one or two scenarios as examples.

A practical example is shoulder pain that has been worsening for many months, with no history of trauma, in a patient over seventy years old. The primary care physician in this case provided only anti-inflammatory pain therapy, without much result. If this patient goes directly to the doctor, the doctor will surely formulate a diagnosis that will have to be confirmed by what are called first-level examinations. In this example, most likely, a simple series of x-rays. In this specific example, during a video consultation, the orthopedist could, by listening to the patient's pain history, already prescribe a series of specific radiographs to make a more complete live assessment. This would result in major savings in money on the patient's part (online consultations are much cheaper than physical live consultations), in "wasted" time on the patient's part (patients often complain of having had a quick visit and receiving in return only an answer but a prescription for tests and then having the answer at a later visit). And also of the physician's time, who would have at his disposal during the live visit much more elements to be able to make a correct diagnosis is a more effective therapy.

Another example of previsit screening might be a case similar to the one just mentioned, but of a patient who goes to the orthopedist for something outside his or her specific field of study and specialization. At this point, the orthopedist may prescribe the first-level examinations as in the example above, but refer the patient for the subsequent visit to another professional more specialized in that body part.

In some cases, patients may need to see their doctor for a checkup or after an injury. In this case, it is important for the patient to know what kind of consultation he or she needs, so as to understand whether the consultation can be done online or needs to be done in person. If there is even the slightest doubt, the consultation should be done in person. To this end, it is important that physicians have an online visit service available on their website or through third parties.

An example of this scenario might be a specialist follow-up visit after a high-field MRI was prescribed for a suspected rotator cuff injury. In this case, the specific and detailed clinical examination has already been done and it is just a matter of viewing the tests. Which still requires the physician's time, however, it can also be done remotely, as very often in this case the clinical examination does not have to be re-performed.

The same case, and for the same reason, also involves arthrosis, that is, degeneration of the cartilage of the shoulder that can be seen in an advanced stage already from an X-ray presented at the first orthopedic office visit. Where, in this case, a CT scan is prescribed so that surgery can be planned. Again, there is no need to revisit the patient but simply view the examinations and inconvenience a patient to simply hear confirmation of the diagnosis and treatment. When, in this case, the CT scan is more for specific planning of the surgery and probably a big waste of time for the patient to physically go to the office.

Another possible scenario could be a checkup at the two-year mark after an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, in case everything goes well, or same for a reverse shoulder prosthesis. Again, in case everything goes well and you only need to view the radiographs of the prosthesis, it is worth considering a virtual visit.

These, of course, are only examples of the types of follow-up visits that can benefit most from this modality.

Online consultation service requirements

• secure

• GDPR-compliant,

• encrypted,

• easy to use

• independent of the platform and operating system of the patient's device

• Ability to transfer files if needed

Requirements for online consultation by the patient's

• smartphone or tablet/computer

• stable and fast internet connection

• stable smartphone holder (link) in case of having to show shoulder movement

• Optional: quality microphone connected via cable or bluetooth

Patients can save a great deal of money through several aspects of the care process. First, it is estimated that the pre-visit phase can result in savings of up to 70% compared with the cost of an initial visit. In addition, reviewing examinations after the visit can account for up to 50% savings over the cost of a follow-up visit.

Finally, the savings from the reduced need for transportation and the cost of parking should not be overlooked, aspects that are often underestimated but impact the personal health budget. I often visit locations relatively far from Turin, such as Rivarolo Canavese and Alba. Unfortunately, due to hospital and clinic commitments, I go once a month. This allows me closer follow-up to view instrumental examinations and clinical checks, without waiting a month for a follow-up visit. However, there is often a need for physical presence.

Especially in the case of patients who live in particularly remote locations, having even just the possibility of contacting the doctor privately to ask him or her a few questions or to have him or her look at examinations can be an added value that is absolutely worth considering and much appreciated.

Another less important thing to consider is the savings in air pollution that result from less travel. This may seem like a negligible aspect to many, but it must be understood that air pollution has negative consequences on our health and the environment around us. Reducing the number of trips can help improve the quality of the air we breathe, but I realize that few people are sensitive to this. Although it may not seem immediately obvious, saving air pollution is an important aspect to consider when evaluating the impact of our daily actions.

The most important "saving" is that of time. The younger one is, the more time seems to be abundant or even infinite. As the years go by, time to spend with one's family and loved ones becomes scarcer and scarcer, and knowing that one has to waste time in moving or looking for parking becomes very often frustrating.

The real saving, from the patient's point of view, is not so much financial savings as it is time, which for anyone, like me, who understands its value, is absolutely precious and limited. Having the ability to take advantage of remote visits, or otherwise access information and contact with the physician via a website, becomes invaluable. Even just an hour saved is an hour that contributes to the quality of life or can perhaps be used, for example, to devote more time to a specific physical therapy program.

Time is really the only truly scarce resource we have , but fortunately it is also the most democratic: 24 hours given to each of us every day, and not wasting it still remains valuable.