In the early days of the pandemic, Fredericton-based Collins said, virtual care was crucial because of the extreme situation of dealing with a dangerous and deadly virus about which very little was known.
About 94 per cent of doctors currently provide care through virtual means, according to the survey, which was completed by 2,071 of the roughly 80,000 CMA physicians, between April 29 and May 25 this year and has a margin of error of 2.12 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Nearly all of the doctors in the survey, which included 1,000 general practitioners, 973 specialists and 98 residents, offer telephone consultations, 51 per cent offer video and 36 per cent secure email/messaging.
That’s funny. 3 dental appointments in the same period. Bunch of laptop cowards. Cut your salaries then.
Dr's are happy, patients are not. Nothing new there. Drs must be squeezing in even more patients per hour. greed
If this is the case I'd rather talk to Google.
If you’re happy to have 25+ 12 year olds together for 6+ hours/day at school then my GP can have a 15 minute face/face meeting with me. Patient care is important. Not doctor convenience. Hypocrisy
Sorry to hear this.
Then we should change to a doctor who will see us in person.
Frustrating.. I can go get a burger at the restaurant down the street, but Ive been told to wait for a phone call for my 2 year old who is in pain and either has a uti or fungal infection.....or..orr... Yea, we will call you. Helpful.
Just when I thought Canada’s health care system could not get any worse!
This isn't going to wash. Specialists are getting fed up with GPs flooding their offices with things that once were done by your family doc. Specialists are getting pissed in my town.
Too bad it never happens usually it’s a phone call and you can’t properly assess anybody over a phone call I’m sorry
I love this, for routine care. Hope the innovation spurs new ways of structuring, ie adding nurse practitioners, to enable a Doctor's practice to take on more patients.
Doctors should receive minimum wage for non in person appointments.. or be paid 80%less due to over the phone consultations.. not the same as a in person personal consultation 🧐 plus no office overhead from the pool, bar,restaurant or beach 🏖 👨🏻⚕️👩🏼⚕️🩺
How many missed diagnoses will there be because of this?
Doctors are happy with virtual appointments, but are their patients?
Of course they would! Billing the government the same money as in house face to face appointments!!! Want to know how you do pap and prostate checks virtually? This is now your NDP free healthcare people!!!
But will they start treating their Covid patients, or just tell them to stay home till they must go to hospital? Treatment is the question in Canada!
Pathetic
Lazy assess
I haven't seen a doctor since 2916, than Covid happen. Now he doesn't seen patients anymore unless it's an emergency.
that's all well & good, but totally unfair too others-people who don't have a Dr. or internet services or transportation if you don't live within walking distance to a hospital or health center or even 'able to walk there' live on a very strict income😱were just a not a person
Works well for the doctor, not the patient. My back is dicked and doc can't do a damn thing over a computer. She says it everytime. Also in Kitchener hospitals aren't full but surgery is still delayed.
Tell doctors we don’t like them. You dont cover all those extra things you dont make an appointment for. Basically it sucks for most things.
Time for these doctors to pack it in. Give UP Your LICENCE. People want to talk and show you what's bothering them and they don't have the latest tech at home. If this is the new medical doctor of today, who needs them.
I really hope they stay. I am disabled by illness & it is horrible having to travel to & from the doctor's office when you are ill. Virtual appointments won't work for everything but they work great for short 15 min. appointments for prescriptions, lab requisitions & referrals.
Yup…..pretty much given up on our healthcare system and I have a rare skin disease that the well educated could not diagnose for several years…….now…..what’s the point? They still don’t have any idea what they are looking at and quite frankly have made the disease worse FDRS
People will end up going to ER instead to see a doctor.
my doctor already does both
No wonder lockdowns are so popular
As a mom to 5, i absolutely love the virtual or phone appointments for minor visits like ear or throat infections, strep, or referals. It saves me alot of headaches being able to connect to my dr via phone or cloudmd instead of going to a er etc when i already know whats wrong.
You make an appointment for them to call then they call then they ask you to make an appointment to come in. Yeah let’s keep doing that
The problem is everyone has their eyes on one problem (Covid) other illnesses are going unseen or being neglected.
You mean the fake doctors that you use to propagate your crap? Haven’t you already being served for crimes against humanity?
How do you get a uterine cancer smear done and BP check virtually?
Yes I enjoyed my 15 minute phone call after a month in hospital and I had many questions. Oops sorry gotta go have someone else waiting on another line Oh and btw sorry, retiring in January office will be closed.
Remember when doctors became doctors because they wanted to help heal the sick? I missed those days, seems it's been a long time since the doctor actually gave a dam.
I backed right up to the camera and spread my cheeks to show the doc my hemorrhoids. It was a little uncomfortable as I couldn’t see what I was doing at first. It will take some getting used too.
Virtual only works for few circumstances. In most cases, doctors need to see patients to do physical examinations - using a stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, using touch and making observations. They were the first group vaccinated and should be seeing patients in-person.
If you can find a doctor at all!
Patients don’t
It's second rate health care. It can't compete with in person appointments.
This great country I grew up in is falling more apart everyday...
Ya. Of course. They can cycle thru more people in 8 hours. It’s great though as insurance companies will be looking to reduce their costs. Meaning lower rates paid to Drs. just watch. Equating to lower premiums for pats.
I guess they haven't thought about the elderly that are technically challenged and do not own a computer, or have family to help them with a computer. Plus, the extra burden FD's not seeing patients in the office is having on Emergency departments.
CTVAtlantic Well I haven't been able to see my family doctor in 19 months and now she is off on leave indefinitely!! For 25 years I have had the same Dr. now I have none 😭.
Watching all these antivaxxers attack doctors over this is hilarious! 'Waah! Pay them less!' 🤣
Virtual visits are not the same. To many things can be missed.
zoom appointments = less pay
The medical profession is getting close to negligence with their virtual appointments .
Virtual only works for some patients. It's not a one size fits all. Similar to virtual in business. It works for some things but not for everything.
Doctors do surgeries online too. You should now be paid on par with a call center agent. No more high paying jobs. Will save huge tax payers money
It works if you have a specific issue/concern or just require a referral for tests. However, without in-person examinations, preventative medicine is lost.
Paycut of 33% is in order since they dont need offices, examination equipment etc. This would be good fiscally for the medical system. All they need is a phone and a computer.
If grocery in store workers nurses and doctors have to work so should our family physicians.
Please SanctionPakisan
Some appointments can be done virtually (presc. renewal, test results, referrals, etc.). But patients should have a choice!
Wow doctors now only want to see healthy patients…
We’ll it’s not their decision it’s ours ? 😂
They can bet their asses they're going back
mpodnar Great! Then less pay should be in order🤷🏻♀️ Don’t we all wish our jobs were over the fone and virtually for life. Family drs biggest disappointment in this pandemic. Thx Ford for making them the laziest
Ran into the same issue last week when my son became ill…Took him for a COVID test and had a strep test done all at the test centre…Follow up with my doc who advised me to take him to the ER without even seeing him. Kept him at home then the Dr. office called angry. 1/2
Docs are paid more for in-office than tel appointments and need the income to cover fixed expenses. They would need a whole new business model to make this work.
wait - so vaxxed adult/drs can continue daily life virtually and safely while unvaxxed innocent children have to go to school unprotected...
Pretty sure that debilitating pain that shows on a patient’s face, in their walk, and by their posture can’t be seen over the phone. For some situations it works but for others no.
CTVAtlantic Nope it’s wrong you have to see your Dr in person
I can see this being worthwhile for routine follow ups, but in person appointments are obviously still needed. We have missed enough care last year with doctors not being available for visits.
I can see as a consultation before an appointment to see if you should see a specialist directly or an in office visit instead of waiting 3 or 4 days for an appointment.
I have booked 2 and both were a no-shows
Virtual appointments are only beneficial if a patient is able to share and describe what is going on. A doctor may also not be able to probably diagnosis or gauge the severity of an issue without seeing someone in person.
Hey, as long as the doctors are satisfied, who cares about the patients.
No shit, they hated spending time with sick and grumpy people.
This country is racing to zero.
Yeah my virtual doctor totally missed my diagnosis. I ended up in ER to get to the true problem. Thanks a bunch doc - hiding behind her desk.
People saying “virtual appointments suck” 😂. It’s the DOCTORS saying they like it! Wonder why
Then thier pay should be cut.
How does one do a virtual physical LOL
Funny considering in 2020 Dr's killed more people than Covid
My doctor does not give high marks to virtual appointments. Is this another contrived media fantasy.
virtual appointments are garbage
Wanna bet?