Continuity of care: the key in telemedicine

As mentioned in the CMAJ news piece by Wendy Glauser, new technologies in health care are improving medical access for Canadians, but like any innovations, they can raise concerns among medical professionals and patients.¹

The recent Ipsos-CMA poll reports that Canadians are largely favourable toward innovations in health care and telemedicine. However, some are worried that telemedicine leads to a loss of human connection and compassion.

That is why continuity of care is paramount in telemedicine, and why all virtual clinics should focus on maintaining continuity when delivering their services.

Dialogue — a virtual care software platform that incorporates artificial intelligence — enables continuity of care by connecting patients with the same professional, whenever possible. Continuity of care also means checking in with patients after each consultation to ensure that they are recovering. Finally, Dialogue shares patient information with the patient’s other practitioners, if the patient consents.

These are the quality standards that must prevail in telemedicine so that more Canadians can benefit from virtual care and the unprecedented access that it provides for patients across the country.

We strongly believe that these standards will prevent the fragmentation of primary care, thereby maintaining the continuity that leads to the best possible patient outcomes.

We also strongly believe that innovations like telemedicine are improving access to health care and, as medical professionals, we should embrace them while holding ourselves to the highest quality standards and making patient safety and needs our highest priority.