COVID-19 has left few people around the world unaffected, and health practitioners are among those at the top of the list. Their daily and intimate service to public inevitably puts them at risk of catching the virus, while social distancing precautions can compromise the work that they do. Dreadful as the viral disease is, the bigger consequences of the pandemic may be on the disruption to routine healthcare.

Consulting patients by video or phone can be a way to keep healthcare ticking over, but many doctors are nervous as they adopt it for the first time. In this podcast we go over some of the bureaucratic and tech support questions that clinicians have been asking during the current crisis. We also discuss the art of building trust with new patients, and conducting a physical examination through telehealth.
 
The guest speakers are oncologist Sabe Sabesan and paediatrician Michael Williams, who’ve been pioneering telehealth outreach to rural and remote Queensland for more than a decade.

Guests
Professor Sabe Sabesan FRACP (Director, Townsville Cancer Centre; James Cooke University)
Dr Michael Williams FRACP (Director, Queensland Paediatric Telehealth Service)
 
 Production
Written and produced by Mic Cavazzini. Tracks licenced from Epidemic Sound include ‘Fields 3 – Gunnar Johnsén, ‘By the Harbour’ – Mhern, ‘Leaving Serengeti’- Ooy, ‘Mega Woman IV’ – ELFL. Image copyright Shutterstock. 

Editorial feedback for this episode was kindly provided by members of the RACP’s Podcast Editorial Group;  Michael Herd, Li-Zsa Tan, Alexis Frydenberg, Sern Wei Yeoh, Andrea Knox, Seema Radhakrishnan, Phillipa Wormald, Priya Garg, Andrew Whyte and Ilana Ginges. 

Please visit the RACP website for a transcript embedded with citations. Fellows of the College can claim CPD credits for listening and additional reading.