Many people have certain doubts about online consultations:
● How can the doctor know what my health issues are without seeing me?
● Is it just like chatting with a doctor? Is it reliable?
● Why does it seem a bit expensive?
● Can I ask about any illness during an online consultation?
Others find online consultations particularly convenient:
● No need to fight for appointments or wait in line, of course, I choose online consultations.
● The doctor’s attitude is good, and the experience is quite comfortable.
● I can ask questions anytime with my phone, no more running to the hospital.
However, regardless of whether you recognize online consultations, understanding basic diseases and distinguishing the severity of conditions is a “required course” for everyone before communicating with a doctor.
Objectively speaking, both online consultations and in-person hospital visits have their benefits, and choosing different consultation methods for different diseases is what a rational adult should do.
Image source | Yi He Group
What situations are not suitable for online consultations?
Before recommending online consultations, we hope that in the following situations, you can first choose to visit a hospital:
● Acute and critical conditions such as fractures, extensive skin injuries, strokes, and drug poisoning are not suitable for online consultation; it is advisable to seek immediate hospital treatment.
● First consultations for diseases that require physical examinations, such as lymphadenopathy, effusion, masses, ascites, and pleural adhesions, are not suitable for online consultations.
In Yi He’s “Ask a Doctor” interface, when you are about to initiate an online consultation, a “Consultation Notice” will pop up for your confirmation, which includes the following statement:
“Online consultations have certain limitations; physical examinations, prescriptions, tests, and examinations cannot be conducted. The doctor’s opinions are for reference only and cannot be used as clinical diagnoses or medical bases, nor can they replace face-to-face diagnosis and treatment between doctors and patients.”
In what situations is online consultation recommended?
Firstly, diseases or health-related issues that are “not urgent and not complicated” can be addressed through online consultations. The diseases suitable for online consultations mainly include the following:
Follow-up for specialized consultations
Many chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and chronic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, require follow-up consultations after initial examinations or after hospital treatment is completed. Doctors will advise patients to return for follow-ups regularly.
* Click on the disease names above to directly enter the specialized department for consultation.
However, sometimes during follow-ups, doctors only need to understand the recent condition briefly and formulate a subsequent medication plan, and it is not necessary to conduct a physical examination and tests every time. In such cases, making a special trip to the hospital seems less cost-effective.
In this regard, online consultations can indeed replace part of the follow-up process for chronic diseases, allowing patients to consult professional doctors online and receive comprehensive and detailed responses; moreover, the doctor’s replies can be reviewed anytime and anywhere.
From this perspective, online consultations can be simpler and more convenient for managing chronic diseases, and they are often more cost-effective.
Interpretation of health check reports
Modern people pay attention to health, and annual health check-ups are scheduled regularly. However, after receiving a pile of test reports, many do not know how to interpret them or how they correspond to their health status. When trying to find a doctor for analysis, they may hesitate over which department to choose.
In such cases, you can also consult a doctor online. Yi He has a dedicated “Health Check Report Interpretation” department that can comprehensively answer your health check reports, analyze various values, and provide professional advice to help you understand your health.
Want to interpret your health check report? Ask a doctor ↓
Learn more about daily health issues
· When does a child need calcium supplements? How to read growth curves?
· Can daily exercise relieve back pain and neck pain?
· Can I take these medications? Are they effective?
· If I stay up late every day, is there still hope for me? (Just kidding)
If you want to be healthy but don’t know where to start, want to buy things, want to exercise, want to lose weight… Are the online suggestions reliable? If you have these concerns, you can come to “Ask a Doctor” to ask questions. For these simple issues, Yi He has launched a “Q&A” feature, which is cost-effective and reassuring.
Psychological consultation
People often say “health of body and mind”; it is not only about physical health but also mental health. The pressures of life and random events can impact mental health, and these “invisible” damages also require treatment, leading to the emergence of psychological consultations.
If you want to undergo psychological consultation, we also recommend choosing online consultations. Here, you can consult many experienced psychological counselors and therapists from the comfort of your home, and you can freely choose the consultation method (text, phone, video) and the location for the consultation. After all, in a familiar environment, you may feel safer and more open.
Want to have a psychological consultation? Ask a doctor ↓
For how to submit a consultation, you can refer to the process below:
Of course, the situations suitable for online consultations are far more than these; we have only selected a few common scenarios. If you have other situations that recommend online consultations, feel free to share them in the comments!
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Editor: Li Huiyi