Animal Health Solutions

15 Q3 2020 | Animal Health Solutions In a few years, the idea of receiving medical treatment exclusively at a doctor's office or hospital will seem quaint." — Harvard Business Review Great medical resources, from hospitals to state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and cutting-edge research, have long been the cornerstone of modern societies that strive to create a healthier, better world. In the modern age, we pride ourselves on having convenient solutions to ailments that once seemed impossible to cure or prevent. Look no further than the common cold and solutions like Zicam ® or Airborne ® , to see how we no longer simply cure sickness, but we now prevent it too. Alongside solutions like these, come new and convenient ways to receive medical consultation as well. The new and rapidly growing frontier of "telehealth" is a broad yet significant field, which refers to the use of any technology that's used to deliver medical attention, information or education to a client. In a medical context, imagine this to be an emergency therapy session occurring via a video chat platform, or even the ability to text pictures of an injury to a care provider in order to gauge its severity. This, in a nutshell, is the world of telehealth and telemedicine. While this area provides a wide-range of new opportunities, it also needs to be treated with the utmost responsibility to accommodate the myriad of new scenarios it encompasses. To that effect, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) vocally supports this emerging type of care, but also places emphasis on ensuring that the convenience of telemedicine does not create a reduction in the quality of care provided. The AVMA policy explicitly states the following: " The AVMA encourages the development of smart-device applications, other platforms and technologies that appropriately help connect current or lapsed clients and patients with veterinarians." With the current ubiquity of smartphones and increasing usage of all types of technology (especially from growing Millennial populations), it's intuitive for the AVMA to encourage the responsible use of this practice. This being said, there are some vital best practices that still need to be followed without exception. Primarily, it's widely believed that telemedicine should only occur as an extension of the care that occurs within an existing "veterinarian-client-patient-relationship" also known as VCPR. This is crucial for several reasons. Of course, the convenience of digital communication and telemedicine in general makes it a practical option for busy pet owners and veterinary practitioners alike. However, if a pre-existing relationship doesn't exist, the core knowledge needed to make accurate, intelligent, and real-time assessments of health simply won't be there.

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