Television doctor
I’ve just seen a GP over a television. The wait was shorter that way, I’m told. It was a strange experience, though surprisingly not inferior to anything other visit I have had.
I checked in and was asked back within a few minutes. My temperature and pressure was taken then I was asked if I would be okay with seeing a teledoctor or if I would prefer to wait to see someone local. I was told a nurse/assistant would handle any local examination under the supervision of the television doctor. I agreed to that, and was taken to a hall to wait again.
The wait was also again only a few minutes. I was then seated in a small room with a comfortable chair, a television wearing a webcam on top, and a station for the local medical worker to sit and handle the chart and such. Quicker than a U.S. visit, I was asked if I had pain swallowing, and then my throat was examined. Normally, this would be done with a light and a tongue depressor, but this was hampered by one thing: the doctor was in Lyon and I was not. They have tools to look at and show the telepresent doctor the state of things like the back of my throat. At least, they will. Currently those tools are not yet installed, so I resorted to what I’d done for myself. I stuck my throat up close to the webcamera and I lit the back of my throat with my cell-phone torch.
This was effective enough to confirm my theory of une angine. I was told to stop taking Spedifen and was given a prescription for Doliprane and a throat spray that does not taste like the fruits exotiques the box claims to contain. But it is doing the trick so far.