A new study has recently revealed that doctors in virtual online health care contacts are not more likely to prescribe antibiotics for infections as compared to doctors in regular health centers. This study has found that doctors, no matter where they work, are following the guidelines for prescribing antibiotics. This information was shared by Andy Wallman. She is a reputed pharmacist and senior lecturer at Umeå University.
This study was recently published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. In this study, researchers studied the data of all the times people went to the doctor for infectious diseases. These people went between January 2020 and March 2021. They studied 160,000 visits, 124,000 of which happened at physical health centers and 36,000 of which happened online.
When researchers observed the collected data, they found that 18,000 care visits resulted in an infection diagnosis. 61% of them received antibiotics at traditional health centers and 26% from online doctors. Researchers also found that the majority of patients who visited traditional health centers were aged between 60 and 80. On the other hand, those who received online medical care were aged between 20 and 30.
Researchers also considered some factors such as gender, age and timing of prescription. Then they found that people who visited online doctors were less likely to be prescribed antibiotics as compared to those visiting physical health centers. The probability of getting antibiotics from an online doctor was calculated to be less than half and it ranged from 0.23 to 0.39.
Researchers of this study said that there are a few reasons why there is a difference between seeking help from a physical health center and an online doctor. One reason is the type and severity of the infection. Another reason is that it is easier for doctors to determine if it is a bacterial infection during a physical visit.
This study also found that doctors at physical health centers and online doctors followed antibiotic prescribing guidelines. But traditional health centers prescribe a wider range of antibiotics. Hence healthcare professionals at traditional health centers should consider this. They should be very careful while prescribing antibiotics because it can increase the risk of many health complications.
