@drhat77 Thanks for your answer, I was very interested in a doctor’s perspective. Do you think doctors will worry business will be taken away from them?
What I like about the idea is to have a doctor accessible by web for my chronic problems. Like my thyroid. I am a little difficult to stabilize, so I get blood tests every 2–3 months. I just need the results and I know to lower or increase my drugs myself. I have a long established history though. I think a web-based doctor will be more likely to get back to me, not mind talking for 5 minutes, and prescribe meds for me. I also check my CBC, iron, vitamin D, and every so often a CMP regularly. I take prescription D and take extra iron, adjusting the dose based on blood tests. If anything came up abnormal and needed further investigation I would gladly visit a doctor in person. Even for my thyroid I think it is good for me to be seen in person at least once every two years, do an ultrasound possibly.
I also would like to be able to use it for shingles, and even a sinus infection. I don’t ask for an antibiotic unless my sinus infection lasts over a week, I know the difference between a cold, flu and bacterial infection. I don’t go to the doctor unless I know it is likely bacterial. I have never as an adult gone to the doctor for flu or a cold. A doctor in real life doesn’t culture anything for those usually, they just talk to you, look at you, and prescribe.
I think it’s great you caught the thyroid, but I think there is a serious problem that women don’t have their TSH run once a year at their yearly visit. Especially after age 40. Why GYN’s or GP’s don’t test it in women when it is so common and an inexpensive test I don’t understand. I know it occurs in men also, but much more common in women.
I agree some things must be seen in person. New illness, or a change, the doctor needs to be able to touch and push and run diagnostics. And, I prefer my own doctors be fine with email or talking through the web and releasing my lab results through the web. Many doctors won’t do it. At least with the web based service, we know those doctors aren’t annoyed they are talking to us. Or, they have agreed to it anyway; agreed to give that service. Even if doctors are not annoyed, it feels like that to patients. We have been trained that doctors don’t want to talk to us.