DALLAS (KRLD) - Children's Health has recorded hundreds of more cases of the flu at its campuses in Dallas and Plano, and the hospital system is urging people to use its app to schedule video chats with doctors instead of coming to the emergency room. The "Virtual Visit App" allows doctors to make diagnoses and prescribe medication remotely.
Kenneth Dakin, a physician assistant at Children's Health, says people to go to the ER may have to wait more than two hours to see a doctor. He says using the app cuts that wait time.
"I don't think there's anyone who's waited longer than, maybe, 15 minutes," he says. "My goodness, it takes you that just to drive down to the clinic or the emergency room."
From December 8 through December 14, Children's Health had 370 positive cases of the flu at its hospital in Dallas and 56 at the campus in Plano.
Bacon says the Virtual Visit App sets up a video chat between the doctor and patient. He says doctors can then ask patients and their parents about their symptoms, asking if they are having a hard time breathing. They can also see if a patient's eyes are red, or if the patient is showing some other symptom.
"We would do the exact same thing we would normally do in a clinic setting, but we're just doing it face-to-face virtually," he says.
Additionally, he says patients and their families can upload pictures.
"They can look in the back of their throat, too, and say, 'Oh my goodness, it's red or it has those little white patches on the back of their throat.' If they can capture a picture of that and upload it into the app, that picture speaks a thousand words," Bacon says.
Dallas County Health and Human Services is offering free flu vaccines to adults and children at its clinics while supplies last. Two people in Dallas County have died from the flu this season.
