Video visits with a doctor are increasing in popularity, and doctors approve.

Dr. Marianne Smalley, an emergency medicine physician with Lehigh Valley Health Network Carbon campus, said video visits are a very good option for people with upper respiratory infections, coughs, colds, congestion and COVID-19, even though the doctor isn’t actually able to listen to the patient’s lungs.

“Most of the time, you can tell a lot by what you’re seeing on the screen,” said Smalley. “You can tell if somebody is in distress with their breathing. You can watch how their body is moving. Can they complete a sentence when they’re talking, or are they talking with short breaths between the words?”

Video visits are also good for other minor ailments, such as dehydration, aches and pains, minor stomach complaints, a sprained ankle, or basically anything that probably won’t require a hospitalization or surgery.

“Often, it’s a good place to start,” Smalley said. “Sometimes you can get a complete evaluation, and sometimes you can be directed as to where you need to go.”

Smalley explained that during a video visit, the doctor, nurse practitioners or physician assistant will ask the patient several questions about his or her symptoms. This will help him or her to determine if tests are needed and which ones to order.

They can order blood tests, radiology tests such as CT scans and X-rays, and prescriptions.

“Anything that you would typically go to an urgent care facility you can do through a video visit,” she said, as well as in standard appointments.

Most of the time, patients don’t need to do a follow-up visit with their primary care doctor, Smalley said.

If someone does look severely ill during the video visit, then Smalley said she will recommend that they call 911 and get help.

“If you can’t speak for a video visit, it means you need to call an ambulance,” she said.

Don’t do a video visit for chest pains, a weakness in the arm, or other things that could be life threatening.

“These warrant a call to 911 or a visit to the hospital,” she said.

Smalley said she is not familiar with specifics of video visits for children, since she is not a pediatrician. Preschool children, especially those with a fever, need “a pretty thorough exam,” she said.

Smalley said she typically sees people who are 12 years old and older in the emergency department or on video visits.

Video visits are also a good alternative to waiting three to five hours an emergency department.

“The ERs, the hospitals, the ICUS, they’re all overwhelmed. Patients are very sick,” she said about the situation nationwide. “We always expect to see a lot of sickness this time of year anyway, but with the pandemic, it’s considerably worse. More people are getting COVID.

“There’s many who unfortunately without vaccination they don’t have any defenses, so those people are getting pretty sick. The waits in ERs across the nation are awful.”