This is a subject that affects rural areas but also certain urban sectors: the lack of general practitioners. To overcome this problem, some municipalities or pharmacies have decided to install medical teleconsultation booths. In Toulouse, the “La Cépière” pharmacy made this choice in January.
A cabin with connected medical instruments
This cabin, a little larger than a photo booth, offers a comfortable bench seat and connected instruments that allow doctors who consult on the other side of the screen to examine patients remotely. Géraldine Dambax, the pharmacist in charge of this pharmacy, explained to France Bleu Occitanie how it works: “There, you see, there is a screen. _The camera is here_just above.”
– Claudia Calmel
Once installed, the patient introduces his Vitale card, creates an account in a few clicks and a doctor receives him for a remote consultation within ten to fifteen minutes on average. The doctors are employed by the company that markets these cabins and use a series of connected instruments that the patient handles himself: _”_There is a blood pressure monitor : when you pass the cuff around your arm, the doctor has access to real-time blood pressure measurements. There is also a forehead thermometer, a stethoscope to listen to the sounds of the heart, an otoscope to observe the inside of the ear with a camera, a dermatoscope to examine the skin and a scale.”
– Claudia Calmel
A device for occasional consultations
The pharmacist rents the teleconsultation cabin for around 300 euros per month, but does not charge her clients for the service. The benefits are more in terms of attendance for the pharmacy.
Consultations are fully covered by Social Security. A complementary solution for Géraldine Dambax: “We have patients who need a quick consultation, but their general practitioner is not necessarily available. Others do not have a general practitioner. These cabins are not there to replace a general practitioner in the context of a follow-up people with diabetes or hypertension, for example. They must be used for specific needs or for renewal of prescriptions.
– Claudia Calmel
For Géraldine Dambax, these devices could still constitute a beginning of a solution to medical desertification : “We could possibly consider it, but within the framework of a coordinated exercise between doctors, nurses, pharmacists, which would make it possible to offer more complete care.”
Since mid-January, around 70 patients have used the teleconsultation booth at the “La Cépière” pharmacy.