Medical technology continues to progress at a rapid pace. However, you may not realize just how many new types of medical technology primary care physicians have available to them that help them provide even better quality and more convenient care for their patients than ever before. 

Read on to learn about two technologies that have improved primary care physician quality of care and why. 

1. Virtual Visits

Years ago, few physicians performed virtual visits, or telehealth services, on a regular basis. However, due to advances in medical technology, more primary care physicians are offering virtual visits than ever before, and this trend is increasing both care quality and convenience for doctors and their patients. Since virtual visits are less time-consuming for both patients and physicians, a patient who once had to wait days for an appointment with their primary care provider can often see this physician on the same day when they choose a virtual visit instead of an office visit. 

In addition, while arranging a visit with both a patient and their disease specialist at the same time can be a difficult task for a primary care physician to perform in person when working around both medical experts' busy schedules, this meeting type can occur more often when performed virtually.

Another one of the many benefits of a primary care virtual visit is the ability to visit your regular physician remotely when traveling instead of visiting a new physician in a new place who does not know your entire medical history when you become ill. Your usual physician understands your medical needs best, knows of any medication allergies you suffer from, and already has other information they can use to personalize your care. 

2. Electronic Health Records

The recent introduction of electronic health records has helped eliminate many of the problems that primary care physicians and their patients once faced when hand-written patient medical files alone were kept by physicians.  

Before electronic health records were in use, it was much more difficult for a primary care physician to share a patient's medical information with another physician, such as an emergency room doctor or medical specialist, when necessary. Since these records often had to be faxed to a new treating doctor, which takes time, this transfer of traditional records could even delay emergency treatment. However, without these records, a new physician could accidentally provide a patient with a medication they were allergic to or perform a procedure that exasperated a current medical condition. 

Now that many primary care physicians have adopted electronic health record systems, they can share patient information with other physicians more quickly, easily, and accurately to eliminate the problems faced when a transfer of medical information was delayed or shared inaccurately by mouth. 

Medical technology has come a long way in recent years, and these two technologies available to primary care physicians help increase the quality and convenience of their care. For more information, contact a primary care physician near you.