Telehealth is a booming industry with more and more patients choosing to go virtual. With the rise of Covid-19, many of our visits to the doctor’s office are limited to certain procedures that require in-person contact and diagnosis. Most of our communication is being done remotely over telehealth services such as video conferencing systems. Telehealth video conferencing systems provide geographic accessibility that wasn't readily available before while also making sure that sensitive patient information and data are protected and secured by staying consistently HIPAA-compliant.

Deciding to choose telehealth for your children brings about many benefits. By choosing telehealth, children stay consistently healthy and cared for while also allowing busy parents to ensure their children’s health is cared for.

What makes telehealth for children unique?

Choosing telehealth for your children provides many unique aspects, benefits, and advantages that weren’t readily available before. With so many advantages, telehealth for children also requires specialized care and handling by physicians and care providers who are qualified to care for and treat children. 

The comfort of familiar spaces

One advantage of using telehealth for your children’s medical needs is that you don’t have to go anywhere--you stay in the comfort of your own home. A trip to the doctor’s office is anxiety-inducing and stressful for all parties involved. Choosing the services of telehealth providers will reduce the fear and anxiety that young children often have when visiting the doctor. Being in familiar spaces will be calming and reassuring for your children and make a virtual health visit easier. 

Everything from the physical check-ups (made possible by advanced HIPAA compliant software) to conversing with the physician will be conducted through your screen from the comfort of your personal living space. 

Children require special health services

As growing children, they require thorough care and attention from a system of cooperative parents, physicians, and healthcare providers. With the bountiful leaps in medical science and research, parents are privy to more information and assistance that is required for their children if needed. 

During their developmental stages, children might require specific experts and specialists to better ensure a healthy and adaptable lifestyle as needed. Through telehealth, children and parents will have more access to a larger variety of specialized medical experts as needed such as experts in mental health, developmental physical/mental therapy, and nutritionists. Telehealth allows access to specialized pediatric medical experts regardless of geographic location. This will be a boon to both the child’s medical needs and comfort because everything will be conducted at home and in familiar spaces.

Quick accessibility to healthcare providers

Because of the nature of telehealth, information on physicians and experts is more readily available to parents. Information has always been circulated and usually upon the reference of your child’s pediatrician. But now through technology and telehealth, parents can access the required health information at the tip of their fingers. Finding the right physician and healthcare provider for your child is now convenient and easy. 

Additionally, most video conferencing systems have directories to a wide array of physicians and healthcare providers. Parents can search for information about a provider’s qualifications, specialty, practice, schedules, and even at times other patients’ evaluations of the physician or healthcare provider. 

The Benefits of Telehealth for Children

The benefits of telehealth for children are endless. HIPAA-compliant video conferencing systems make doctor visits easier and more accessible. Parents and patients are assured of the safety of telehealth while receiving the care that is needed. Just a few, quick advantages of telehealth to think of are: 

1. Convenient and reduces scheduling conflicts for busy parents. 
2. Makes services and information to physicians and healthcare providers more accessible and easy.
3. Children are comfortable in a familiar space and reduce the stress of a trip to the doctor’s office.
4. Accessibility to a larger variety of specialized medical pediatric experts as needed.

Ensure the telehealth services are specific to the wellness of children

We’ve now established the benefits of choosing telehealth for your children, but one thing to bear in mind is that you always need to make sure that your chosen telehealth provider is consistent in the care of your children. Because of the nature of being virtual and remote, misinformation and the likes are increased. To reduce the likelihood of that happening (even if it's very low), take the time to ensure that your telehealth provider is working with you to support your children through these few steps: 

1. Make sure your telehealth provider is trained to treat children.
2. Follow up with your pediatrician about your children’s telehealth visit to ensure that your child is receiving quality and thorough care.
3. If your telehealth provider isn’t your personal pediatrician, make sure that communication is in constant flow between your children’s telehealth provider and pediatrician either through the patient’s family updating records with the pediatrician personally, or having telehealth services communicate with the personal pediatrician.