Prescribing by Phone Is Like Playing With Scorpions
Can you practice medicine over the phone? What is an appropriate way to use communication technology to help treat patients? Recently on Medscape Connect, an all-physician discussion group, members discussed how they had used the phone and other devices to diagnose, prescribe, or otherwise deal remotely with medical issues.
A primary care physician started things off: "Given my experiences with my own patients, I always insist they come into the office before I prescribe antibiotics if I haven't just seen them. Have you had experiences where you were glad you made your patient come in to your office before treating them based on what they told you over the phone, or a time when you wish you had?"
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