New Approach to Healthcare.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Mr. Clod's employer just signed on for a similar private online system called Teladoc. Remote diagnosis and emailed prescriptions for basic flu/strep/etc. On the one hand, yay for not having to haul your kid down to a clinic and wait for hours when you already know goddamn well what's wrong with them. On the other, this is only going to increase the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics.

Also, very difficult to distinguish between an innocuous flu and the beginnings of sepsis at the best of times - teladoc I suspect would make for more misses.

The news often has examples of the times doctors missed sepsis when someone presented with flu-like symptoms but how about those people who present with severe flu and whose lives are saved by an observant emergency room doctor or nurse who recognises sepsis?

It's such a difficult thing to spot and it's one of the biggest killers.

That's the trouble with 'routine' illnesses - they're the ones schemes like this focus on as low hanging fruit but the early symptoms of a number of very serious illnesses are all but identical to the symptoms of routine illnesses.

That kind of technology can play a really important role in getting medical diagnoses to people who are unable to access healthcare providers directly - or to make follow-up care and advice easier and less reliant on one to one appointments - but there are serious dangers in using it to cut down the costs of medical attention.