Adapting telemedicine not only to pharmaceutical care
In medical circles, we have become accustomed to opening an X-ray image in any computer, which many do not even consider a success of telemedicine. Having put aside the painful memories of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are positive about the computerisation of many of the processes that the pandemic is speeding up - e-prescription, e-PN.
However, on the periphery of it all, the patient has been left standing, who, while welcoming many of the changes, is questionable as to whether or not he or she is willing to participate in all the advances that telemedicine is bringing to primary health care. It was the patient that we oriented the telemedicine biomedical research towards and ascertained the patient's attunement to the use of a telemedicine approach, not only on the part of the pharmacist.
Telemedicine and artificial intelligence are no longer sci‑fi, but the natural continuation of what healthcare professionals have been doing for years via phone, computers, and the cloud. The pandemic accelerated habits that had been quietly evolving—from e‑prescriptions to sharing images without the "brown envelope." A pharmacist’s lecture showed where telemedicine truly proves itself, where it hits limits, and what patients think of it. The digitalization of healthcare is progressing gradually: from telephone consultations and image transfer to electronic prescriptions and generic prescribing, which has significantly improved legibility and treatment safety. COVID brought a leap forward—we learned that much care can be handled remotely, allowing clinicians to serve more patients. Insurers’ telemedicine services also entered the picture, and patients got used to electronic communication, although they expect above all simplicity and safety from technology. We still need comprehensible rules, clear terms, reliable infrastructure, and confidence that data are protected.From a phone call to an e‑prescription: a quiet revolution
