This concern is valid, but only for the small number of doctors who are not currently offering telemedicine. Most veterinarians utilize telemedicine every day via the telephone and can decrease their professional liability by integrating modern telemedicine technology.
AVMA defines telemedicine as “the use of a tool to exchange medical information electronically from one site to another to improve a patient’s clinical health status”. Therefore, a telephone call, email, text message, etc to a client with a valid VCPR constitutes telemedicine. Not all practitioners realize how frequently they use telemedicine. This oversight increases the risk of complacency and delays the modernization of telemedicine tools, resulting in more risk for the practice.
The telephone is still a valuable telemedicine technology, but it is dependent on the expertise of the person who is remotely describing the problem. For example, a first time dog owner will probably not be able to describe a problem about his dog as well as a third generation dairy farmer will be able to describe a problem with her cow. Modern telemedicine technology (photos, videos, live chat) allows the veterinarian to get accurate data regardless of the expertise of the owner, therefore reducing the risk of remote care.
It is important to note that modern telemedicine tools do not mandate that all problems are solved remotely. Some veterinarians are concerned if they incorporate modern telemedicine tools, clients will expect every problem to be solved virtually. This is incorrect. Clients are contacting the veterinarian, regardless of technology (telephone or SnapChat) because they want expert advise on what the next best decision is for their animal.
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