Telehealth is a way of taking part in health care and services remotely, using your computer or mobile device. These online services are increasingly available in the public health network. Of course, it will never be possible to offer everything remotely. Telehealth is there to complement the usual in-person services. What’s more, as a patient, you always have the choice of whether or not to use telehealth.
The benefits of telehealth
Your healthcare activity takes place in your own home, saving you time, energy and money. What’s more, telehealth…
- improves access to:
- your healthcare professional;
- your medical information;
- is secure;
- helps prevent certain types of emergency care;
- encourages active participation in managing your health.
We present five useful resources. The first three inform you about telehealth and its services. The other two are online platforms for consulting your health information and booking appointments.
1What is telehealth? page
Let’s start with the basics: the What is telehealth? page. It has been designed for patients and citizens curious to learn more. It explains, with definitions and examples, the different ways in which virtual care can be provided. The page’s illustrations and accessible language make it easy to understand the concepts.
2Participate in a teleconsultation page
The best-known telehealth activity is teleconsultation. It’s also known as a “virtual meeting” or “video call”. It enables you to meet your healthcare professional remotely, using your computer or mobile device. More and more professionals are offering this option to simplify your life.
If a teleconsultation is scheduled for you, you can prepare yourself for the meeting. The Participate in a teleconsultation as a patient page guides you step by step, according to your needs.
3 The Centre de soutien des services numériques en santé (CSSNS)
Despite its long name, CSSNS is here to make your life easier! It’s THE support service for telehealth users in Quebec. A team of technicians is there, at the end of the phone or the keyboard, to offer you help. Details and contact information are available on the Patient Technology Support page.
Among other reasons, you can contact CSSNS for assistance before a teleconsultation. For example, to:
- Find out how to connect to the meeting;
- Understand how Microsoft Teams works;
- Test your connection.
4Québec Health Booklet website
Telehealth also means playing an active role in managing your health. To do this, it’s very useful to have easy access to your medical information. Québec Health Booklet
is an easy-to-use, secure site that brings all your information together in one place.
It includes:
- The results of your medical imaging tests;
- A list of your medications;
- Sample results;
- The list of people who have consulted your health information.
5Medical Appointment Scheduler and Clic santé websites
We conclude with two online resources that help you obtain health services:
Québec Medical Appointment Scheduler is a free government service that lets you book family medicine appointments online. Its aim is to facilitate access to a healthcare professional (doctor or specialist nurse). Appointments can be made…
- with your regular healthcare professional;
- with another healthcare professional in your family medicine group (GMF);
- with a nearby healthcare professional.
Clic santé is a website that makes it easy to book an appointment for a health service. Several types of services are available, for example:
- Vaccination;
- Blood sampling and screening;
- Pharmacy consultation;
- Medical imaging;
- Consultation with a professional (some of which offer teleconsultation).
Please note that some services charge a fee. However, you can use the “no fees” option when making your search.
Connected health
It’s now possible to use your computer or mobile device to obtain care, services and information remotely.
The healthcare network is also integrating technologies by offering telehealth options to make services more accessible and make your life easier. A good example is teledermatology. The arrival of this service in 2022 has drastically reduced the waiting time for a consultation with a dermatologist.
The forthcoming arrival of the Dossier santé numérique (DSN) will be another important step in this direction. The DSN will make a patient’s medical history available to healthcare providers across Quebec, in real time. It will also enable each patient to access his or her medical record directly and keep track of medical appointments.