The National Council of Medicine (CFM) regulated the practice of telemedicine in the country. The resource, which had been resolved since 2002, was mainly aimed at patient care.
The new regulation provides for new services, such as teleconsultation, telediagnosis and even telecirurgies , offering assistance, education, research, disease and injury prevention and health promotion.
However, according to resolution 2227/18 of the CFM, people must follow some guidelines so that they can be attended to.
The first step is for the patient to authorize the transmission of his image and data to the doctor. The health professional will be responsible for the information and the confidentiality of this information.
During the service a camera will be used to record and to serve as a kind of clinical report.
The recommendation, according to CFM, is that patients should have a first contact with the doctor in person and, only afterwards, consult by video.
However, patients who live in more remote and difficult-to-access areas are an exception and may have their first video consultation as well.
In these cases, the patient must be accompanied by another health professional, for example a nurse, so that he can help with the care.
In addition, telemedicine can also help doctors themselves, since through technology it is possible to ask questions and exchange information from other doctors at a distance.
It is called teleinterconsultation, which allows the doctor to exchange information and clinical opinions, adding knowledge from other specialists.
With all these regulatory changes, it is possible to see a new future for medicine that will have an important tool to cover areas where health is precarious.
The feature may yield a number of criticisms from some users. But the doctor’s absence should not interfere with the quality of patient care.
On the contrary, telemedicine has the potential to avoid years in the public waiting list and facilitate the arrival of medicine in people who have not had any type of diagnosis.
But, attention ! When we talk about online consultations, we are referring to medical care by conference, not self-medication .
Telemedicine in Brazil is already a reality, and the new resolution proposes a considerable evolution in distance service. However, it is necessary to be attentive to all the rules, in order that the medical norms are respected.
