- Nowadays, WhatsApp has become one of the communication platforms since it was created in 2009.
- However, more and more health professionals are using this messaging app in their work environment.
- A doctor failed them, emphasizing the importance of physical examination and direct contact with the patient.
Nowadays, WhatsApp has become one of the communication platforms since it was created in 2009. But it is not only a powerful communication tool on a personal level, but there are many companies and sectors that use this app in their communicative tasks.
But although the queries by WhatsApp have become increasingly common, however, a doctor rejected them, highlighting the importance of physical examination and direct contact with the patient.
yesMore and more healthcare professionals are using this app
However, more and more health professionals are using this messaging app in their work environment with some of the following objectives:
- Facilitate communication with the patient: WhatsApp can help resolve specific questions remotely or even monitor a patient. Above all, it is an ideal option for those who live in rural areas or have difficulties to go to the consultation.
- Sharing information with other professionals: In health, dialogue with other professionals is something constant, either to ask for a second opinion on a diagnosis or treatment or to ask about the result of a test.
- To learn: Although the main objective of this app is to send and receive messages, another possibility is to create groups with other professionals, something that can become real discussion forums for current medical issues.
Disadvantages of using WhatsApp for medical consultation
Although WhatsApp has the advantages that we have mentioned, it is also true that this app has some drawbacks for queries that mean that, until they are solved, its use is discouraged.
Among these drawbacks are the following:
- Can deteriorate the relationship between doctor and patient. This is because the dialogue through WhatsApp is usually shorter, with less detail and more impersonal.
- If you do not manage to set the appropriate limits, you can reach experience constant interruptions that will make it difficult for you to correctly carry out your face-to-face work in consultation.
- Diagnosis via WhatsApp can cause major medical errors that would be avoided in the face-to-face consultation.
- Inquiries made through WhatsApp they lack traceability and the results or impressions are not dumped into the clinical history, something that prevents the correct follow-up of the patients.
- Although the biggest drawback of using WhatsApp in the health sector is the possible breach of patient privacy. Although the messages sent through WhatsApp are encrypted (that is, only the sender and the receiver can see them), the information is stored on the mobile, so that anyone who has access to your device can see the content.
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