One item that makes documentation easier during a telehealth visit

Documentation can be challenging when you're also using your computer for telehealth visits. Adding a second screen via a laptop or tablet can make a big difference, Ku-Lang Chang, MD, writes in the latest edition of FPM’s Practice Pearls.

Use the primary screen for the telehealth camera and the electronic health record (EHR), and use the second screen for viewing the patient in real time. With the camera and the EHR on the same screen, you will be able to look at the EHR while doing documentation and then move your eyes just a little when you want to look into the camera and talk to the patient.

To look at patients on the second screen, you should only have to shift your head slightly, but you may want to explain what you’re doing (e.g., “Let me take a look at that rash on my second screen”), because from their perspective, it may seem that you’re glancing away.

If you don’t have a second screen, or don’t know how to connect one with your primary computer, you can also split your computer screen into two windows. But they will be smaller, and it may take some adjustments to get each to a workable size.

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