Using phones to connect children to healthcare

Telemedicine has been much in the news as researchers investigate how technology can extend the reach of medical services, and a host of start-ups and app developers look for ways to incorporate medical care into our relationships with our devices. And so in pediatrics, there is discussion about the potential for making health part of that adolescent connectedness. Some research shows that adolescents are open to at least certain aspects of medical care delivered by phone, and a variety of efforts are underway to incorporate texting into health and mental health services for adolescents, to extend the reach of counseling services, and even to provide help to teenagers in crisis.