Making YourTeleDoctor Global
June 16th, 2008I have been thinking all day long about ways to enhance the experience for the people that will be using a teleconsultation service over the Internet. One simplistic idea will be to allow patients to consult a doctor without caring about his/her location. This is what I call the global healthcare marketplace. As for any disruptive idea, there will be many hurdles that should be surpassed:
- Developing countries physicians are not as competent: A number of doctors in developing countries have degrees outside their country and attend international conferences to keep up to date.
- Laws protecting doctors like in Quebec, Canada and North America in General: Like for any other service, the globalization and internationalization of medicine is something that cannot be fought against for a long time from now on. Medicine is becoming more and more transparent. The people that want to keep it opaque are doing it to protect their interests and those of a community of doctors. This has nothing to do with the consumer. The consumer/patient should be empowered and should be the central piece of the puzzle. We need to give the consumer its lost place. (Rate my doctor).
- Cultural Difference: Most doctors in the United States and in Canada are immigrants. There are some minor specificities to the medicine and sicknesses but a doctor has the same formation and the human body is the same wherever you go. Many studies have reaveled common traits in humans no matter their ethnicity or skin color.
- Remote consultations are not as reliable as face to face: There has been many studies in the subject. In Ontario for instance, it was shown that patients resent no major difference compared to face to face visits with their psychiatrists. Also, it has been shown that more than 80% of the visits to a general practitionner end up without having a physical contact with the patient.This idea to develop the service into a world wide advice network of physician has grown up and could present an alternative to the shortage for doctors in Canada and the States.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I think you left out the most important factor : trust.
It’s hard to build, but I think that a global trust system for health professionals is something that needs to be built. And most probably a decentralized trust system, that would benifit all health services. Global might be a tall order to start with, I think you should start with a well defined local scope, state/provinicial or country level at firtst, trust is easier with smaller distances and existing trust networks.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:08 am
That’s true Sylvain,
Trust is the most important factor. It is implicite in each of the points mentionned above. This barrier of trust can be overcame with tools that allow patients to get to know their doctors while doctors having access to information about the patient as well. The information can be the CV of the given doctor as well as its past experience in the system and the comments of his own patients.
Building a system like this will allow for more transparency and trust. This will benefit the end user
(patient) and the doctor as well. It is a win/win situation.
June 18th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
i see a point in sylvain carle’s when he says you should launch the service locally first, or just for a selected group of patients/doctors, in order to get early feedback and test the concept.
also there are still a lot of people who go for their doctors just for the nice words, because they are stressed and need someone to sooth them.
anwyays, great post. I am also sure there are lots of great prospects in telemedecine, the landscape is pretty much void now, and there are lots of opportunities to grasp!
June 19th, 2008 at 4:10 am
I read similar article also named Making YourTeleDoctor Global, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me