Nicholas Freudenberg, MD and Peter M. Yellowlees, MBBS, MD
Ideally, telepsychiatry treatment should include collaboration with patients’ primary care physicians. One way to facilitate the collaboration is for patients to have videoconference appointments with their psychiatrists in the primary care clinic.
You are not just the rural patient’s doctor, you are the doctor for the football team, a friend, and perhaps a relative; you speak on health at local schools and are expected to attend fundraisers.
Acknowledging the roles and views of the caregiver may be the first step to resolving disagreements between caregivers and clinicians over artificial nutrition at the end of life.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(7):656-662. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.7.ecas3-1707.
A clinical practice policy prohibiting house calls that opposes the practice standards of individual clinicians may be unethical and reasonable, but it may still be possible to treat patients who prefer house calls while abiding by the policy.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(5):419-424. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.5.ecas1-1505.
Teleradiology can contribute to quality care when teleradiologists communicate and collaborate with referring physicians, have real-time access to patients’ medical records, and consult for hospitals that have error detection and correction systems in place.