The
internet has paved the way for many industries to expand their business and
gain attraction. Not many people think of medical practice as a part of this,
but it is. If you want to start your medical practice online, this article is
for you. Telehealth, or online health-based apps, allow doctors to treat their
patients virtually.
When
it comes to virtual treatments, it is comparatively much more convenient for
patients to get treated online without having to travel much. Ever since the
Covid 19 outbreak, there has been a rise in patients choosing to get treated
online rather than physically because it also helps with social distancing.
Doctors, too, have shifted their practice from offline to online, and they have
been able to treat many more patients as a result.
Advantages of online medicine practice
- The patients can choose doctors
from all over the country rather than relying on someone closer to them.
Hence it gives them much more choices.
- This reduces the costs hugely
for doctors. It also minimizes the clinic’s administrative expenses of
hiring front desk staff and maintaining a waiting room.
- Patients can avail of
consultation any time of the day. They can also reduce their time and
costs by consulting doctors over video calls, phone calls, or chat.
- Doctors get the freedom to
practice medicine anytime and from anywhere. New practitioners can also
start their practice individually without the support of a private or
public hospital.
While
there are many benefits to online medical practices for doctors and patients,
there are two sides to every coin. Let’s talk about a few disadvantages. When
it comes to emergencies, online medical consultations are not very useful.
Additionally, there is a need for physical assistance in cases of physical
injuries like cuts, accidents, etc.
There
is also the issue of quality evaluation when it comes to online practice.
Patients don’t have many ways to evaluate the trustworthiness and reliability
of an online healthcare practitioner.
Ways to start your online medical practice
We
have discussed how this could be a better option for various medical practitioners.
There are ways in which you can start your medical practice online. The
internet offers a variety of options with which you can grow your practice as a
doctor. Many websites online allow you to register yourself as a medical
practitioner, Practo being one of them. You have to go through the registration
process and provide your medical license and important documents. A screening
process takes place, qualifying you as a consultant on their website. If you
want to start an online medical practice, you can also set up your clinic
through social media and promote it through marketing. This will help you reach
out to people and expand your practice.
A
few websites allow you to register yourself on their platform. These include:
- Practo
- iCliniq
- Doconline
- Tata Health
- Aayu app
Guidelines to be followed to practice online
medicine in India
A
few guidelines have been set to practice online medicine for doctors in India.
- The first element is that there should be no anonymity between
the patient and the doctor. They both should know each other’s
identities. There should be proper authentication of the two, and both
should know the other’s information and credentials.
- The condition or the case of
every patient could be different. The consultant should provide the same amount
of care no matter what the patient’s problem is. There should be no
discrimination when it comes to the consultancy being provided by the
doctor.
- The consent of any patient is
essential for any telemedicine consultation. There can be two types of consent
provided by the patient – implied or explicit, depending on the situation.
If the patient initiates the consultation, then it is implied that the
consent has been granted. However, if the doctor initiates the
consultation, then the patient will have to give explicit consent.
- There needs to be data privacy.
There are a few patients that would appreciate their diagnosis to be
private. The doctor should respect their privacy and hold their data. This
is an important guideline for any consultant that wants to start their
online medical practice.
With
all the points covered above, it is clear that many doctors would now like to
take their medical practice online or would like to start their medical journey
through online modes. The points mentioned are the basic requirements to keep
in mind before starting.
In
conclusion, with everything in the world slowly moving towards online modes,
the healthcare sector is also trying to choose this route. Hence, the online
medical practice business is growing and gaining traction by the day. It is
more convenient, safer, and a better way of consulting a wide variety of
doctors with different levels of expertise.
A
growing number of patients would prefer this mode of consultancy depending on
their illness. Online medical consultancies also collaborate with the best
medical institutions and provide the patients services by the best doctors. But
whether this model will take off or is here only for the pandemic is yet to be
seen.
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