Online medical services gain in popularity in Tianjin

The internet hospital of the Tianjin Medical University General Hospital offered online medical services 500,000 times and consultation services 1.5 million times respectively in the first 11 month of this year, accomplishing its online medical service goal for the whole year ahead of schedule.

Digital film and cloud imaging, intelligent triage, in-home care, patient management, and post-hospital rehabilitation guidance are some of the services that the hospital offers online, lifting the hospital’s smart medical services to a new level.

Tianjin Medical University General Hospital is the only Class A tertiary comprehensive hospital in Tianjin. Its online hospital was approved on December 27, 2019.

On Feb 10, 2020, in response to the call of the National Health Commission for increasing online diagnosis and treatment consultations as part of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, the hospital started providing free online medical consultation services. Its online hospital officially went into operation on March 10.

This move was made to meet patients' demand for medical treatment and avoid indoor gatherings.

Giving full play to the innovative method of online diagnosis and treatment, the hospital is devoted to providing patients with better and more convenient medical services, health education, disease diagnosis and treatment, and rehabilitation guidance both online and offline.

Smart medical care makes breakthrough

Currnetly, 42 medical and clinical departments and 1,243 doctors of the Tianjin Medical University General Hospital are providing medical services via the internet hospital.

From January 1 to November 30, 2021, the average daily number of online patients reached 2,000, with the cumulative number of online patients exceeding 500,000, the number of consulting services reaching 1.5 million, the cumulative number of online prescriptions more than 270,000, and the number of drug express parcel shipments nearly 75,000.

The booming online medical service meets the needs of the people, helps optimize the medical treatment process, and reduces the risk of cross infection under the circumstance of epidemic prevention.

In addition, as the hospital keeps providing satisfying online diagnosis and treatment service, an increasing number of patients have formed the habit of seeking out online medical diagnosis and treatment.

The number of first-visit outpatients, patients with difficult miscellaneous diseases, and patients who cannot physically visit the hospital has increased significantly. 

So far, the hospital’s nearly 20 online services have been available both in China and abroad, including free consultation, online follow-up, health education, accurate triage, examination appointment, drug delivery, home care, online imaging, and patient management.

Its express drug delivery service has covered 247 cities and nearly 130,000 online nucleic acid testing appointments were made throughout the year.

Adhering to the principles of safety, standardization, convenience, inclusiveness and efficiency, the online service helps the hospital reduce service costs, broaden its scope of services, and optimize the structure of hospital revenue and expenditure.