Blog Post 13-Amy Spear

This week we discussed various aspects of the consultation as well as how the internet affects doctor-patient relationship. The consultation is the initial point of connection between doctor and patient. In this setting, the doctor and patient establish initial chemistry and it sets the standard for the rest of the relationship. These consultations are important because it allows the physician to educate the patient as well instruct the patient on what to do next whether this is dealing with a diagnosis or seeking treatment. With our new development with hybrid care models, we also have different types of consultations. There are the in-person of telepsychiatry consultations. These are very similar with the advancements that we have made in these care models; however, some differences do exist. For example, the most beneficial aspect of an in-person consultation is the physical component. In these consultations physicians are able to gather information from the patient’s appearance and more specifically things such as gait or body language. Both of these are very important in monitoring a patient.  Although these aspect lack in videoconferencing consultations, there are also some advantages to this type of consultation. For example, it has been shown that patients feel less anxiety during these online consultations.

We also discussed how increased internet use affects the doctor-patient relationship as well as how it affects simply the patient. It has been shown by physicians that with increased internet use, consultations are often more time consuming because of the complex questions patients have an sometimes misleading information that they have gathered from the internet. However, sometimes patients’ internet research has been shown to enable more complex conversations with physicians during these meetings. Therefore, it is important that when seeking any information, especially medical, that we be very cautious as to what we believe to be true. Often information on the internet can be false or misleading. Although our advancements have made it possible to have information at our fingertips, it is very important that we be cautious with this information and careful not to be mislead.

I do believe that our internet usage has lead to changes in many aspects of the mental health field. Like we have discussed, it has transformed consultation style, patient education, and even our doctor-patient relationships. As a prospective clinician, I believe I will utilize these various technologies but I will do so with caution. These changes with technology can be very beneficial to all of medicine but it is important that we be careful and understand these new innovations in our fields.