Online Nephrologist | Telemedicine Singapore

Online Nephrology Consultation with MOH Registered Medical Doctor for Chronic Kidney Disease, Renal Diet, Kidney Transplantation, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure & Weight Loss

Delivering Personalised Online Nephrology Consultation & Medical Care That Prioritises Patient Safety & Welfare with Greater Convenience & Improved Accessibility to Medical Support & Medication Digitally

*Please note that individuals requiring essential life-saving measures should not seek remote telemedicine services. Immediate in-person medical attention is crucial in such cases.

Best Kidney Specialist in Singapore - Dr Francisco Salcido-Ochoa

Online Nephrology Consultation with Singapore Nephrologist Dr Francisco Salcido-Ochoa

Singapore Registered Medical Doctor | Nephrologist | Transplant Immunologist | International Health Coach

At Francisco Kidney & Medical Centre, besides in-clinic nephrology consultation, Singapore nephrologist Dr Francisco provides his kidney patients with 100% personalised online nephrology consultation (safe and secure telemedicine video chat) for his patients locally and globally.

As an accredited nephrologist with over 23 years of experience, Dr Francisco’s medical specialities include:

– Clinical nephrology
– Interventional nephrology
– Critical care nephrology
– Glomerulonephritis
– Immunosuppression
– Kidney failure treatment
– Renal failure management
– Polycystic kidney disease
– End-stage renal failure
– Kidney cysts
– Dialysis
– Haemodialysis
– Peritoneal dialysis
– Renal transplantation
– Living donor kidney transplant
– Diabetes
– Hypertension
– High blood pressure
– Metabolic Syndrome
– Weight management
– Gout

Questions You Can Ask an Online Nephrologist about Kidney Disease During Your Telemedicine Consultation

– What is kidney disease and what are its types?

– What is the difference between chronic kidney disease and acute kidney disease?

– How would I know if I have kidney problems?

– What puts me at risk of kidney disease?

– What are some crucial preventive steps to avoid kidney disease or slow down the damages of kidney disease?

– What kinds of food and lifestyle changes should I make to keep my kidneys healthy and strong?

– How is kidney disease diagnosed and what is the process like?

Questions You Can Ask an Online Nephrologist about Renal Dialysis During Your Telemedicine Consultation

– If I have kidney disease, how soon will I need dialysis?

– Do all kinds of kidney diseases require dialysis treatment?

– What are the different kinds of dialysis given to patients and which one should I choose?

– How frequent do I have to go through dialysis if I’m subjected to this treatment?

– Can I perform dialysis on my own at home? Must I get a caregiver?

– Will other my existing medical conditions affect the dialysis procedure?

– Can I live a normal lifestyle when I’m on dialysis?

Questions You Can Ask an Online Nephrologist about Kidney Biopsy During Your Telemedicine Consultation

– What is a kidney biopsy?

– What do I need to prepare for a kidney biopsy?

– How are the kidney cells analyzed during a kidney biopsy?

– When can I get my results for my kidney biopsy?

– What are the next steps after the kidney biopsy?

Questions You Can Ask an Online Nephrologist about Kidney Transplant During Your Telemedicine Consultation

– Is kidney transplant suitable for anyone?

– What would I need a kidney transplant instead of just doing dialysis?

– What kind of tests do I need to go through before a kidney transplant?

– What are the possible side effects from kidney transplant?

– What are the most common risks and complications of kidney transplant?

– How long is the whole kidney transplant and recovery process?

– How often do I need to go for check-ups after the kidney transplant surgery?

– What can I do if I have health problems after my kidney transplant surgery?

Take note that this list of questions is not exhaustive. They are just some of the questions for your reference.

During your online nephrology consultation with Dr Francisco, feel free to elaborate on your current medical condition, the medications you’re taking (and the side effects (if any), your medical history and past surgeries or treatments, and your other illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, gout, etc.

Kidney specialist Dr Francisco’s provides both in-clinic and telemedicine services including thorough individualised consultation, diagnosis, prescription, customised renal diet, and action steps for kidney disease prevention, treatment, dialysis, and renal transplant, based on all the info and data you share with him.

Telemedicine Service by Singapore Kidney Specialist Doctor Dr Francisco Salcido-Ochoa at Francisco Kidney & Medical Centre

Telemedicine & Telehealth Service by Singapore Nephrologist Doctor Dr Francisco Salcido-Ochoa at Francisco Kidney & Medical Centre. 

Dr Francisco Salcido-Ochoa is an accredited nephrologist licensed by Singapore Medical Council and follows the gold standard of telemedicine guidelines in planning and delivering nephrology medical and health care to his patients, both locally in Singapore and also globally.

What is telemedicine & telehealth?

Telemedicine and telehealth has made healthcare more affordable and accessible for all without the long waiting time.

Today, real-time technology is used to connect fellow nephrologists and kidney patients, so anyone can get the medical attention, delivery of medication, and the medical certificate they need, regardless of location, as long as decent internet connection is available. Fellow patients can easily make payments online for their consultations using credit cards.

Telemedicine services and telehealth consultation (which are approved by Ministry of Health) connects fellow patients with physicians (registered doctors) via an electronic network, usually via video calls or phone calls.

Seeing Your Doctor Online | Money Mind | Telemedicine via CNA Insider

Transcript: Seeing Your Doctor Online Money Mind | Telemedicine
Transcript: Seeing Your Doctor Online | Money Mind | Telemedicine

Telehealth is the use of digital and telecommunications technology to access healthcare services remotely. It’s a marriage of medicine and technology. It allows patients to consult doctors virtually. Doctors can then diagnose conditions and prescribe treatments for healthcare systems. It’s a way of doing more with less.

When telehealth was first created, it was really to treat patients in remote places. Far away from local health facilities where medical professionals were a shortage. But it is still used today to connect both the patients to the doctors as awareness is required to receive non urgent immediate care, as well as follow up care for both specialists and primary physicians.

One of the biggest challenges in health care across Asia is the lack of enough trained clinicians to treat the broader population at an affordable cost. So telehealth provides an opportunity to amplify the capacity of clinicians and health care networks to provide access to healthcare to a large number of patients.

Telemedicine has been used in the medical sector for a number of years now. But when the covid 19 pandemic hit, social distancing became the new normal. And people around the world turned online, including when they needed to see a doctor.

Heavy crises certainly accelerate telehealth as it provides no real opportunity to link patients with expert clinicians without the need for travel or physical contact and that increases the capacity of clinicians and obviously reduces the risk of infection.

So I think what has happened with COVID-19 is that he has removed that behavioral and economic barrier for a more widespread adoption of telemedicine.

Before the pandemic Asian consumers were already open to the concept of telehealth. In one survey, 78% said that they were ready to use digital healthcare compared to 66% of consumers globally. When the pandemic hit, telemedicine apps in many markets saw big spikes in demand.

Many of our Asian markets are embracing digital both digital health tools and telemedicine. In particular, we really saw telemedicine start to take off in China with the initial outbreak there. So China managed to move at least 50% of medical care to being online in those early days of the outbreak, and that really changed the dynamic of healthcare and added additional services that just weren’t there before.

According to the World Health Organization, 58% of countries surveyed are now using telemedicine to replace in person consultations. The majority also use telemedicine to triage patients to determine the severity of illness. But while such digital solutions are seen as safe and convenient, particularly during a pandemic, telemedicine does have its limitations.

The biggest contributing factors for the lack of adoption is probably the skepticism of online diagnosis. But it’s important also to sort of highlight that when the doctors are providing services using tellement modalities, they must ensure that they are providing the same quality and standard of care.

The outcomes for patients are not inferior to standard care. And that’s because you have to make sure you’ve got to have the right patients for this program. Not everybody can benefit from health, health if they’ve got significant acute illnesses that need constant monitoring and review and lab tests done daily for example, not necessarily beneficial to have it done via telemedicine. Having said that, the largest segment of patients who basically do relatively well from day to day, but suffer from chronic diseases that require regular monitoring and prevention of deterioration or reducing the risk of complications. These tend to be very easily managed via telemedicine.

As with any digital platform, there are also concerns over data protection and privacy.

Individual consumers obviously want to be assured that their personal record can be kept secure. But really the whole system has to be embracing the highest standards of data protection and privacy for all individuals. And I think with most things digital and healthcare is no exception. You know, the pace of change actually outpaces our ability to regulate and governance in some instances.

Industry watchers say that the covid 19 pandemic could radically change the telemedicine sector and its role in healthcare systems around the world.

Everyone’s looking at that now to figure out how we can sustain this momentum. What we need to do now is to ensure that we can demonstrate very clear benefits to rolling out telehealth across the right patient in the Right Sector, and that will demonstrate them to the payers and to providers that this can be a viable alternative to face to face care.

A big part of the new normal will be the increasing role played by online platforms and the expansion of telehealth will be part of a global trend in the digitization of healthcare.

The future of healthcare is certainly digital. So the increase that we’ve seen in telemedicine has to a large extent been forced upon people because of you know, lockdowns and confinements but it’s not going away. So what we do know is that once individual consumers start using digital tools, including digital healthcare tools, they continue using them.

I don’t think we’re going to be moving to fully virtual hospitals where everybody’s treated remotely in their homes anytime soon. But, you know, there’s a clear opportunity to extend the reach to the vulnerable people or people in remote populations and that helps to increase the effectiveness and the efficiency of clinicians throughout the healthcare system.

 

Fellow patients can connect with registered doctors anywhere via a telemedicine app such as WhatsDoc or booking a telemedicine appointment directly with the relevant doctor.

Digital technology has enabled this rapid adoption virtual care and remote patient monitoring, especially during this pandemic.

(Telemedicine services refers to remote medical services to connect fellow patients with physicians via a telemedicine app or direct video call consultations, while telehealth refers to remote non-clinical services, locally or globally)

The adoption of telemedicine and telehealth services has become more common these days, serving millions of active users worldwide, due to the travel restrictions and inconvenience caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (early adopter market, such as China, Singapore, and Australia, follower market such as Indonesia and Japan, and conservative market such as South Korea and Hong Kong). 

As you might have heard about the recent health data hacks and the increasing important of tech security in the healthcare space, it is important to choose a telehealth platform that is secure and HIPAA compliant.

3 Major categories of telemedicine

Teleconsultation

This widely know category of telemedicine refers to the online virtual session where a patient can consult a registered medical doctor. It is usually conducted via video conferencing technology or by sending relevant pictures of the patient to healthcare providers for further interpretations.

Telemonitoring

This is where a registered doctor receives data from a patient who is connected to a certain biosensor at home, without traveling to the health institution. This biosensor can be a vital-sign monitor, a glucometer, or any other any bio-parameter monitoring device. Based on the patient’s data, the physician can then start administering the relevant treatment or prescribe suitable medicine or drugs to the patient.

Telementoring

This is where a medical doctor gets mentorship from another specialist to find more specialized to find ways of helping patients with specific symptoms or illness. Via video conferencing, the medical doctor can connect to established health institutions who can arrange a suitable medical specialist to be the mentor.

What are the benefits of telemedicine & telehealth?

1. Save on transportation time and costs
2. No need to take time off of work
3. On-demand medical and health care options
4. Access to registered doctors regardless of location
5. Detect symptoms to prevent or slow down illness progression
6. Contactless virtual medical and healthcare and remote patient monitoring by registered doctors

Feeling unwell but dread the long queues at the clinic or hospital?

Wish to consult registered doctors but not convenient to travel here?

Have a loved one with chronic conditions who needs medical care but is unable or unwilling to travel to a clinic or hospital?

Worried about physical contact due to the infectious virus during this COVID-19 pandemic?

If you face one or more of these issues, then the adoption of telemedicine services or telehealth consultation with registered doctors is the solution for you.

With our telemedicine and telehealth services by an empathetic Singapore nephrologist, you can consult and get the nephrology care you need to put your mind and ease, manage your renal symptoms, and get the right diagnosis, treatment, diet, and medicine to battle kidney disease and regain your health – wherever you are, whether in Singapore or overseas.

Book your telemedicine consultation with nephrologist Dr Francisco today for kidney health & disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, holistic diet & weight loss.

Telemedicine Singapore
(Online Nephrologist)

Online Nephrology Consultation Locally & Globally

Francisco Kidney & Medical Centre

Get reliable medical advice and second opinion on kidney disease, dialysis, renal transplant, renal diet, diabetes, and high blood pressure from Dr Francisco Salcido-Ochoa, Singapore renal specialist with over 23 years of experience.

Dr Francisco provides 100% personalised online nephrology consultation (via secure and private telemedicine call) to provide fellow kidney patients with diagnosis by studying each individual’s symptoms and medical history & conditions before designing a fully customized management, healthcare and treatment plan for chronic kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, and more to assist in recovery.

Dr Francisco’s specialist clinic Francisco Kidney & Medical Centre is located at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore.

Book your online nephrology consultation (telemedicine) with Dr Francisco today to get the nephrology care you need, wherever you are. 

Frequently Asked Questions on Telemedicine & Telehealth (Updated 8 April 2021)

What is the difference between telemedicine and telehealth?

Telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical services, while telehealth refers to a broader scope of remote healthcare including non-clinical services.

Does telehealth include telemedicine?

In simple words, all telemedicine is telehealth, but not all telehealth is telemedicine. Telemedicine is basically a subset of telehealth that refers to the provision of healthcare services and education virtually, usually via video conferencing. 

What are some examples of telemedicine?

Examples of telemedicine include video consultation with medical specialists, medical imaging, and virtual medical diagnosis, evaluation, and even drug prescription. 

What are the different types of telemedicine?

There are 3 main types of telemedicine: 

  1. Real-time interactive session with a registered medical doctor (which has gained much popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic) 
  2. Store-and-forward (also called “asynchronous telemedicine”, by which healthcare providers share patient medical information with a medical specialist virtually such as videos, lab reports, imaging studies, and other relevant records)
  3. Remote monitoring (where patients self-monitor to collect their health data at various points throughout the day, and then securely transmit their data electronically to their clinician or doctor)

What conditions can be treated with telemedicine?

Health conditions that are a good fit for telemedicine include chronic kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, allergies and asthma, chronic bronchitis, conjunctivitis, rashes, mental illness, and many others.

What happens during a telemedicine visit? What should I expect at a virtual doctor visit?

The purpose of virtual doctor visits like telemedicine or telehealth is to make access to healthcare more convenient. You can expect to see and talk to a qualified doctor via your smartphone, tablet or computer from the comfort of your own home without travelling to the clinic/hospital or enduring the long queue like physical visits.

You will sit in front of a camera where you will be able to see your doctor and yourself on the screen once your telemedicine or telehealth session begins.

How do I get a virtual doctor visit via telemedicine or telehealth?

Most virtual appointments nowadays can be easily booked and accessed via a simple link which will be sent to the medical specialist via a text message or email, that will take you directly to a video conference either instantly, within minutes, or on the pre-booked day and time. Certain telemedicine platforms might require you to log into a patient portal to connect with a suitable registered doctor.

What do I need for telemedicine?

A telemedicine setup will require a few essential needs such as a secure broadband internet connection, a secure video platform, and tech support if you are not familiar with operating on your PC or laptop. Depending on the telemedicine platform and the doctor you’re meeting (virtually), you may request for access to the recordings of your telemedicine consultations.

How do I prepare for a telemedicine visit?

  • Consult your insurance company about applicable coverage and copayments for your telemedicine visits
  • Inform your doctor about any pre-existing health conditions you have
  • Check and prepare your devices before the telemedicine consultation (PC, laptop, internet connection)
  • Place your medical devices and medications (if any) near you before starting the telemedicine session 
  • Write down your symptoms and prepare the questions you wish to ask your doctor during the telemedicine session
  • Find a quiet spot for your telemedicine or telehealth consultation