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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Technology Brings Change to Doctor’s Visits
Lisa Love of Twin Falls in the western American state of Idaho has not seen her doctor of 25 years since she started using a healthcare service called telemedicine.
莉莎·拉芙来自美国西部爱达荷州双瀑城，自从开始使用远程医疗服务以来，她已经25年没有去看医生了。
With telemedicine, a person can contact a doctor from wherever they are using a smartphone or other device and discuss their health concerns in a video conference.
借助远程医疗，人们可以在任何地方使用智能手机或其他设备来联系医生，通过视频会议谈论自已的健康问题。
Love no longer waits for the doctor’s office to open. She does not even have to leave her home. She used virtual1 visits last summer for help with a skin problem and returned for another small issue. She told the Associated Press she does not feel the need to seek care in the traditional way, especially since she also gets free health exams at work.
拉芙不用再等待医生办公室开门。她甚至不必离开家。去年夏天，她借助虚拟看诊治疗了皮肤问题，之后又因为一个小问题进行了复诊。她对美联社表示，她认为没有必要寻求传统方式的医疗服务，尤其是她工作的地方还提供免费健康体检。
Last year, the Kaiser Family Foundation, a healthcare research group, found that about 25 percent of adults in the United States do not have one doctor they visit often. That jumps to 45 percent for those under age 30.
去年，医疗研究组织凯撒家庭基金会发现，美国大约有25%的成年人不会经常看同一名医生。在30岁以下人群中，这一比例攀升至45%。
Some people like Love wonder how much they still need a regular doctor. “Telemedicine probably can’t do everything ... but for most of the things I might ever have, I’m pretty sure they can take care of it,” she said.
像拉芙一样的人想知道，他们有多需要常规医生。她说，“远程医疗也许不能提供所有服务，但是就我经历过的大多数服务来说，我非常确定它们能解决问题。”
Other people have moved to walk-in clinics and urgent care centers. And more medical services are using teams of professionals to keep patients healthy. They limit visits with a doctor to just the more serious cases.
其他人选择预约诊所和紧急护理中心。越来越多的医疗服务提供专业人员来让患者保持健康。这将医生看诊限制在较严重病例。
Health care experts say the changing, disconnected nature of care is exactly why people still need someone who looks out for their overall health.
医疗专家表示，因为护理不断变化且分离的特性，人们仍需要有人来照顾他们的整体健康。
That has been the traditional responsibility of family doctors. They know patients’ medical histories. And they are trained to identify problems instead of just dealing2 with the symptoms that led to the patient’s visit. They also can make sure different medicines work together, as well as help make sense of information patients find with an internet search.
这是家庭医生的传统职责。他们了解患者的病史。他们接受过相关培训，可以确定问题而不仅是处理导致患者看医生的症状。他们还能确保不同的药物共同发挥作用，同时帮助患者分析他们在网上搜索到的信息。
Sam Glick is an executive3 with the research firm Oliver Wyman. He said the idea of a family doctor as the single best solution for everyone is changing a great deal.
萨姆·格利克是研究公司奥纬咨询的管理人员。他表示，对正在经历巨大变化的所有人来说，家庭医生是最佳解决方案。
This change began years ago when drugstores started providing anti-flu injections and opening clinics that handle minor4 issues like ear infections. The two largest drugstore companies in the U.S., CVS Health and Walgreens, now run about 1,500 clinics combined.
这种变化始于几年之前，当时药店开始出售抗流感注射液，并开设诊所处理耳部感染等小病。美国两大药店CVS Health和沃尔格林目前在全美共开设了约1500家诊所。
More recently, employers have started adding work place clinics. And thousands of urgent care centers have opened around the country to treat emergencies that are not life-threatening. Then there is telemedicine.
最近，企业主开始在公司内部增设诊所。美国各地开设了数千家紧急护理中心，以治疗无生命危险的急病。之后，远程医疗诞生。
Love said she loves the virtual visits. They only cost $42, or less than half the price of an office visit under her insurance plan.
拉芙表示，她喜欢虚拟诊疗。这种看诊方式只需要花费42美元，比用保险去医生办公室看诊所需费用的一半还要低。
“I like technology and I like new things and I like saving money,” Love said. “It was worth it to me to try it.”
拉芙说，“我喜欢科技，喜欢一切新事物，也喜欢省钱。这值得我去尝试。”
On top of all the competition for patients, the field also is fighting a shortage5 of doctors as medical school students aim for higher-paying specialties6.
除了要竞争患者以外，这一领域还要应对医生短缺问题，因为医学院学生通常会力争进入薪水较高的领域。
Health care services have changed by adding physician assistants or nurse practitioners7 to cover yearly physical examinations and other minor care.
医疗服务发生了变化，因为医师助理或护理执业师的增加足以应对年度体检和其他小型护理的需求。
They are also creating teams that help them take a wider look at patient health. Those teams might include mental health specialists who look for depression and health instructors8 who can improve diet and exercise.
他们还组建了团队，帮助他们更全面地关注患者健康。团队成员可能包括寻找抑郁症的心理健康专家和能改善饮食和运动情况的健康指导员。
The idea is to keep patients healthy instead of waiting to treat them after they become sick.
这是为了保持患者的健康，而不是等到患者生病后才开始治疗。
“We want to do as much outside the walls of the clinic as we can,” said Megan Mahoney, a doctor with Stanford University in California. She noted9 that this push depends on insurers expanding what they will cover.
加州斯坦福大学的医生梅根·马哈尼表示，“我们想在诊所之外尽我们所能地去采取措施。”她指出，这取决于保险公司将扩大的覆盖范围。
Doctors say the team-based services are changing their relationships with patients. Harvard Medical School professor Russell Phillips, also a doctor, often answers emails or questions from his patients. He also connects them with clinics for minor issues like urinary tract10 infections.
医生表示，团队服务将改变医生与患者的关系。哈佛医学院教授拉塞尔·菲利普斯医生经常回复患者发来的电邮和问题。他还在诊所为患者治疗尿道感染等小病。
Phillips says health care is changing into more of a flowing, virtual relationship where patients have shorter visits with their doctors more often. Traditionally, patients would usually only visit their family doctor maybe two times a year.
菲利普斯表示，医疗将转变为更加流动和虚拟的关系，患者可以更频繁地看诊。传统上，患者可能每年只看两次家庭医生。
“Getting medical care is such a complex activity that people really need somebody who can advise, guide and coordinate11 for them,” Phillips said. “People still really want a relationship with someone who can do that.”
菲利普斯说，“接受医疗护理是相当复杂的事情，人们非常需要能提供建议、指导和协调的人。人们依然想与能提供这些服务的人建立关系。”
Words in This Story
smartphone – n. a mobile telephone that can be used to send and receive e-mail, connect to the Internet and take photographs
virtual – adj. existing or occurring on computers or on the Internet
clinic(s) – n. a place where people get medical help
patient(s) – n. a person who receives medical care or treatment
symptom(s) – n. a change in the body or mind which shows that a disease is present
insurance – n. a kind of business involving agreements in which people make regular payments to a company and the company promises to pay money if they are injured or die, or to pay money equal to the value of something, such as a house or car, if it is damaged, lost, or stolen
physician assistant(s) – n. a person who provides basic medical care and who usually works with a doctor
nurse practitioner(s) – n. a nurse who is trained to do some of the things a doctor does, such as give physical exams or order certain medical tests
coordinate – v. to make arrangements so that two or more people or groups of people can work together properly and well
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virtual
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| adj.实质上的，事实上的，实际上的 | |
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dealing
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executive
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| adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理 | |
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minor
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shortage
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| n.缺少，缺乏，不足 | |
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specialties
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| n.专门，特性，特别；专业( specialty的名词复数 )；特性；特制品；盖印的契约 | |
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practitioners
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| n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师） | |
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instructors
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| 指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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noted
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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coordinate
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| adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调 | |
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