COVID-19 has been consistently spreading its tentacles all across the globe. People are helpless and are queuing up in large numbers outside hospitals and doctors’ chambers to get them tested for the infection. This is leading to mass gatherings and putting the people not infected at high risk and susceptible to getting infected. The discovery of a proper antidote is most anticipated by people living in cities with a high number of COVID-19 cases.
To avoid gatherings at hospitals and doctors’ chambers, the United States has started a new screening process for symptoms of the infection to be done remotely. Board-certified doctors are giving out 24×7 evaluations online or simply through a phone call. Screening is the most important thing before going for the diagnostic test.
During these visits, healthcare professionals and patients will get to chat with each other in a protected environment. Generally happening through a video call, the doctor asks the patient to take his/her own temperature and properly guide them through the entire procedure. Janet Rico, assistant dean of nursing graduate programs at Northeastern University, says that doctors ask for symptoms like breathlessness and dry cough before determining whether the patient should go for a physical test.
This method of medical diagnosis is not new to people in the U.S. but this is not accessible by the poverty-stricken section of the society with no internet connection, lack of awareness, and a dearth of insurance reimbursement. Rico, along with a few researchers and clinicians, took initiative to create a program to enable nurses and doctors to provide proper and systematic virtual care. She calls it the ‘Virtual Care Certificate program’. She says, “There’s a huge need for this in healthcare. This pandemic has brought it some visibility; we know that bringing someone in who potentially has the virus could endanger everyone else around them.” As a nurse and practitioner herself, Rico understands the need of the hour and wants to contribute to the society in these trying times.
Subarna Basu