The Impact of Vacation on Patient Health: How to Resume Follow-Ups After Summer

As a healthcare professional, you know that summer vacations, while essential for recharging, can lead to changes in your patients’ health. Discover how to follow up with your patients effectively after the summer in this article!

The Impact of Vacation on Patient Health

While summer vacations often mean relaxation both physically and mentally, this period can also bring about changes in your patients’ health. Whether it’s neglecting certain habits, variations in diet, increased sun exposure, or alcohol consumption, your patients may not return in optimal health after their vacation. Moreover, like healthcare professionals, returning to work is not always restful.

How to Resume Medical Follow-Ups After Summer

After the summer, some patients may neglect to resume their medical follow-ups, thinking that a few weeks of relaxation won’t impact their health. However, this period can be critical!

• Preventing Complications: For patients with chronic conditions, a lack of follow-up during the vacation can lead to imbalances that require special attention. Irregular medication intake, changes in diet, and reduced physical activity can be risk factors. A post-vacation check-up allows you to readjust treatments and prevent potential complications.
• Resuming Healthy Eating Habits: Vacations often involve richer meals and reduced physical activity, which can lead to weight gain. At the start of the new season, it’s important to revisit dietary recommendations and any necessary prescriptions.
• Avoiding a Difficult Return: Vacations are ideally a time to disconnect and refresh… at least in theory! Sometimes, vacations can negatively impact mental health and well-being. Returning to routine may bring an increase in stress, anxiety, or even mild depression for some. It’s important to discuss your patients’ emotional well-being after the summer and consider ways to reduce stress for future vacations.
• Identifying New Health Issues: Lastly, if your patients have traveled to high-risk countries, such as certain tropical regions, it’s advisable to conduct a health check-up three months after their return, even if they are asymptomatic.

Planning Follow-Up Consultations

To ensure that follow-ups are effective, you can adopt a proactive approach in planning consultations. Here are a few strategies you can implement:

• Informing Patients About Resuming Care: Make your patients aware of the importance of resuming their regular care at the start of the new season. A simple reminder, whether by email or SMS, can encourage them to schedule an appointment. By explaining the risks of delayed follow-up, you motivate them to prioritize their health. If you offer online appointment booking, make sure to mention this to your patients. It will allow them to easily book appointments upon their return from vacation.
• Use an Online Medical Calendar: After the vacation, consultation requests may increase significantly. Using an online medical calendar, like one of the many we offer synchronization for, not only helps manage appointments more effectively but also prioritizes patients requiring urgent follow-ups. A well-structured calendar also helps avoid work overload.
• Using Teleconsultation to Streamline Consultations: Video consultations are a valuable tool for quickly addressing patient needs after and even during vacations! They allow for follow-up consultations without patients needing to travel, which is especially useful for post-vacation checks that do not require a thorough physical examination. Moreover, teleconsultation helps manage less complex cases, freeing up time for patients needing more intensive in-person care.

Happy and Healthy Patients After Their Vacation

As we’ve seen, the start of the new season is a crucial time to reassess your patients’ health and adjust their medical follow-ups. Vacations can bring about various changes that need to be addressed at the start of the season.

Digital tools like OneDoc can greatly facilitate this transition. By optimizing your schedule management and offering remote consultations, you can not only enhance your practice’s efficiency but also provide high-quality service that meets your patients’ needs flexibly and adaptively.