Geeksugar Chats with Modern Day Doc Jay Parkinson

Have you ever imagined having a doctor that you could call, email, IM, text or have video chats with at any time of day? Well for patients of Dr. Jay Parkinson, this is not only a possibility, but a virtual reality. Last week I had the pleasure of chatting with charismatic Parkinson, who operates his high-tech practice out of Williamsburg, NY. Unlike traditional doctor's visits that include expensive fees and long wait times for treatment, Parkinson offers "e-visits," in which he uses communication technology to manage his patients. Whether it be in the form of emails or video chats, Parkinson's new-age approach to health care is not only convenient for his patients, but very affordable as well.

Mixing the old with the new, Parkinson makes house call visits (picture cute doc at your door), offers unlimited consultation on IM or email and is available Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm and 24/7 for emergencies. With a user-friendly website that he designed himself, new and existing patients are able to access a Google calendar that is integrated directly on the site to view Parkinson's schedule. And if you want to make an appointment, you can instantly log-in and schedule yourself an appointment in one of Parkinson's open time slots — just like that.

Working from his MacBook and an iPhone, Parkinson can access his calendar, phone numbers, email, and electronic medical records on-site using Life Record. By utilizing the latest technologies Parkinson is able to renew prescriptions on the fly and receive updates about his patients' symptoms and conditions via email. When I asked Parkinson about online security, he said that all medical records are encrypted, password protected and stored on a remote server. He said he prefers to use Adium and iChat as his IM chat applications since they are both very secure.

Considering 72 percent of geeksugar readers said they tend to use the internet instead of their doctor to diagnose medical conditions and consumers can now take cell phone pictures of their meals for nutritional consultations, it's no doubt that people are wanting "modern medicine" to catch-up with the conveniences of "modern technology"—something Dr. Parkinson has already established with his approach.

To learn more about Parkinson, you can visit his blog here and check out his artistic talents on his Flickr page — yes he's not only a doctor but a photographer as well, talk about being the real deal!

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