Virtual Visits & Video-conferencing
As many of you already know, video-conferencing has become the norm in many areas of business (WebEx, Zoom, etc.) as well as with social and personal contact (FaceTime, etc.). Many of you have likely been using this technology to keep in touch with family and friends.
In the first few weeks of this pandemic crisis, I conducted virtual visits by phone on most weekdays.
These phone visits have been very useful, but there is also something extra that video-conferencing provides, and that is the human contact, especially the visual cues and a “virtual examination", which are such an important part of medical practice.
I have been using Zoom (to check it out, click here) for video virtual visits. The call is encrypted, so security concerns are reduced significantly. It helps if you have already used the App, or at least checked out their website before we start a call.
Basically, I start a Zoom meeting and invite you by email. You click on the link, and then I bring you into the meeting.
Some basic pointers:
1. Find somewhere quiet and free of distractions.
2. Whether you are using a computer, phone, or tablet, set up the device to be stable, propping up phones and tablets if necessary. The larger the screen, the better, as long as the device has a camera (which most do).
3. Placing your device's camera at or just above your eye level also makes your image more natural. You can use items such as books, boxes, and other items to get your device to the right level.
4. For a quick way to make a smartphone stand, click here.
5. Handheld devices are usually hard to watch! Unless I ask you to move the camera to show me something, try not to move the device around too much.
6. “Landscape” view (horizontal, like movies) is better than the “Portrait” view (vertical) in most cases.
7. Make sure the lighting is good! Near a window, out of direct sunlight, with you facing the window generally works well.
8. Depending on the quality of your device’s speakers and microphone, it may be better to use a headset, earbuds, earphones, headphones, etc. I have been using a Bluetooth headset for the best audio clarity.
9. You can choose different view options:
(a) both parties as video boxes of equal size, side by side; or
(b) yourself as the small image and your counterpart (in this case, me) as the large image.
I think (b) works better for our type of interaction since there are only two of us in the meeting, and it makes it a little more “real”. These controls are usually in the upper right corner of the window.
10. Also, make sure both “Internet Audio” and “Video” options are turned ON when you sign in.
For a more detailed article on how to set up for videoconferencing, click here.