Telemedicine with Waukesha Foot Specialists

For many Wisconsinites (and their neighbors around the country and world), normal routines are on pause—or at least have been significantly slowed—due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean your foot and ankle problems are on pause. And if you’re in pain, you shouldn’t have to wait weeks (or months) to get expert evaluation and guidance. Many conditions flat out can’t wait that long.

But at the same time, you have to consider the health and safety of you and your family and weigh the risks if you do decide to head out. So what’s the right answer?

In many cases, it’s going to be telemedicine with the Waukesha Foot Specialists. Since we are an essential service, our office remains open to in-person visits for those with urgent needs. If your need is non-urgent, however, we are asking you to choose telemedicine instead.

We’d be happy to take a minute or two to walk you through the process.

What Is Telemedicine? Does It Actually Work?

Telemedicine is when a doctor uses technology (electronic communications, software) to provide clinical services to you  without requiring an in-person visit.

During your appointment, Dr. Guhl or Dr. Miller-Guhl can discuss your symptoms with you, make a visual inspection of your foot, discuss home care options, answer any questions you might have, and determine if further in-person treatment is required. Quite often, we can give you the information you need to avoid coming into the office at all.

Many kinds of appointments work great with telemedicine. Obviously, we cannot perform any direct procedures remotely, such as giving you an injection or fixing an ingrown toenail. But we can examine your feet, follow up on previous procedures, share and discuss lab or diagnostic results, and help you figure out what the next steps need to be.

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How Does It Work?

The great news for the not-necessarily-tech-savvy among us is that you don’t need any special software or equipment to have a telemedicine call, beyond some basic items that you probably already have access to at home:

  • A device that can make a video call. Smartphones, tablet computers, and laptop (or desktop) computers with a webcam/microphone will all work just fine.
  • Access to our online patient portal. Many of our patients already use our patient portal to review records and pay their bills, and now you can use it to request and conduct telemedicine appointments! If you don’t have an account yet, scroll up to the top of this page, hover over “For Patients” in the menu, click “Patient Portal,” then click “Activate Your Account Here.”

From the portal, you can request a telemedicine visit. Our staff will contact you to confirm an appointment time.

On the day of your appointment, we recommend logging into your patient portal about 15-20 minutes early, since there may be some additional questions you’ll need to answer before the appointment can begin. Once you and your doctor are both ready, we’ll start the call!

What If I Still Need (or Want) an In-Person Visit?

As mentioned above, we are still offering in-person visits to patients with urgent needs that cannot be met remotely. If you have a problem that just can’t wait, we are here for you and want to make sure you can get care from us instead of the emergency room. Patients with non-urgent needs will be asked to schedule telemedicine instead.

Examples of urgent needs include:

  • Pain
  • Infections
  • Injuries (such as fractures or sprains)
  • Diabetic foot concerns

Please rest assured that we are monitoring updates from the CDC closely and following all recommended guidelines for maintaining (as well as possible) a healthy, safe environment. We are sanitizing all areas regularly, using protective equipment, and maintaining appropriate social distance to the greatest extent possible.

We are also taking some extra precautions, including:

  • Limiting the number of patients we have in the office at any one time.
  • Taking patients directly from their cars to their exam rooms—no need to sit in the waiting room. Just call us when you arrive and we’ll come get you when we are ready.

Offering the first hour of the day’s appointments to patients who are immunocompromised (or otherwise at higher risk of complications from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases).

A Safe, Effective Approach to Foot Care

You don’t have to keep suffering alone. Get the expert insight and care you need for your foot or ankle problem, without leaving the comfort and safety of home!

If you’re ready to request a telemedicine appointment with Waukesha Foot Specialists, please log into the patient portal by clicking here.

And if you have any further questions or concerns that are not addressed on this page, please don’t hesitate to contact our office at (262) 544-0700. We are always happy to help!

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