When you live in a rural area, trying to get quality medical treatment can be a challenge. There may be only one or two doctors in your area, and finding a specialist could mean traveling hundreds of miles. Oftentimes, patients may delay getting the help they need or simply go without because of this difficulty.
But telepathology in rural areas is changing the patient experience. Now patients can have access to top-level pathologists no matter where they live. Read on to learn more about this amazing technology and the way it’s helping patients get better healthcare every day.
What Is Telepathology?
Before we get into what telepathology is, let’s start with the basics of pathology. Pathology is a field of medicine that studies disease and its processes, as well as diagnosis. A pathologist may examine digital slides, biopsy samples, blood draws, saliva samples, and many other test samples to diagnose a patient.
Telepathology allows pathologists to provide these diagnoses from long distances. They can look at digital slide results or examine the test samples in a lab anywhere in the world. Then they can transmit that information to the patient’s primary care physician or relay it to the patient directly over the phone or a video call.
Easier Access
One of the biggest reasons telepathology is so important in rural areas is that it provides easier access to medical care. There may not be very many pathologists in a rural area, and patients may not have the resources to travel to see one in person. This may cause them to put off important medical visits for longer than is better for their health.
But as long as the patient has a primary care physician or some sort of medical care facility in their area, telepathology can make the best pathologists in the world available to them. This may encourage patients to seek needed medical care sooner.
Quicker Diagnosis
Telepathology can also help speed up the diagnosing process. In some cases, getting a quick diagnosis can be crucial to treating a patient in time. And in any case, sitting around waiting for a diagnosis can be emotionally traumatizing.
Thanks to telepathology, patients in rural areas can have diagnoses back much quicker. A patient could get a biopsy at a hospital, have the biopsy transmitted to an on-call pathologist, and have results in as little as a few hours. This improves patient outcomes and experience with the medical system.
Discover the Benefits of Telepathology in Rural Areas
Telepathology in rural areas is an important technology helping patients to see better medical outcomes. They don’t have to travel as far to get the help they need, and they can get diagnoses back faster for the best treatment experience.
If you’d like to learn more about telepathology, please reach out to us at Specialist Direct. We provide end-to-end telehealth solutions in areas that include telecardiology, telepathology, and teleradiology. Contact us today to discover how our solutions can give your patients a better healthcare experience.
