INTERVIEW
Confinement, day 4. Since Monday noon, the French are called upon to limit their movements as much as possible in order to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. But how to consult a general practitioner, a specialist, or his psychologist when any social interaction is strongly discouraged? New technologies have the answer: teleconsultation. Since the announcement of the containment measures, this process allowing to speak to a doctor about his symptoms, or to continue a therapy thanks to the webcam of his computer or his smartphone, knows an increasing success.
Appointments multiplied by 40
"In the past month, teleconsultation appointments have been multiplied by 40 on our service, and the share of video consultations with French general practitioners equipped has increased from 5 to more than 50%", underlines Stanislas Niox-Château, president founder of the platform for making medical appointments Doctolib, in the program Sans Rendez-vous, on Europe 1. "And it is increasing hour by hour compared to the equipment of health professionals", adds T -he.
The week before Emmanuel Macron's announcements, 3,500 doctors in the Doctolib directory used video consultations. Following the address by the Head of State, thousands of requests were made to the platform. So much so that she made the decision to help practitioners on a voluntary basis by offering the setting up of teleconsultation, says Stanislas Niox-Château. "As of Tuesday, 80,000 healthcare professionals can now use it, receive patients remotely, and provide prescriptions remotely."
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To be able to consult a doctor (essentially general practitioners and specialists, midwives and psychologists) from home, nothing could be simpler. "All you need is a smartphone or a computer equipped with a webcam, go to Doctolib and make an appointment for a video consultation," explains the founder of the platform. "A few minutes before the appointment, the patient receives an SMS, he then arrives in a virtual waiting room, performs the video consultation, then he receives a prescription and can then go directly to get his medication."
Beaches dedicated to Covid-19 patients
If teleconsultation knows such a craze, it is obviously that it allows to respect the confinement while allowing the doctors to continue to "receive" their patients. But in the context of the coronavirus pandemic that affects France, and while potential patients are not advised to go to their doctor, teleconsultation especially allows home monitoring of patients with mild symptoms associated with Covid-19 .
>> READ - Coronavirus: follow live developments
"We have created a community of sharing and mutual aid between health professionals", adds Stanislas Niox-Château. According to him, 96% of them say they have already changed the way they work. By adapting to teleconsultation, of course, but also by setting up dedicated time slots to receive patients potentially affected by the coronavirus. "They are much more available today than before because they are on the front line to meet the care demands of French patients."