Getting More Facetime with your Doctor
Telemedicine is the way of the future — and it’s already here
Disclaimer: Your healthcare provider is the best source of health and medical information. Articles written by UPGUYS are informed by peer-reviewed studies and research, as well as governmental health authorities and agencies — but they cannot replace advice from a healthcare professional. Talk to your healthcare provider about any physical or mental health concerns you might have.
Rarely do we experience health issues on a public-scale. Apart from the seasonal flu and once in-a-lifetime global pandemics, healthcare normally involves intimate contact with one or two healthcare professionals, and sharing information with close family and friends. This is one domain in which we’ve come to expect a high level of discretion and privacy in our interactions.
While doctors office visits are normally conducted in private, the act of scheduling an appointment and getting to that appointment can draw attention from those living in your household. Sexual health and mental health, for example, can be delicate topics in ways that a sprained ankle is not. So what do you do when there is a desire to keep the nature of a visit to the doctor on the down-low due to its sensitivity?
Telemedicine — including conducting virtual appointments with healthcare professionals — offers a solution to this conundrum.
Telemedicine has become commonplace throughout most corners of the globe. Countries with advanced healthcare systems like China and Israel have invested billions of dollars in digitally transforming the way their citizens access healthcare. Developing countries like Rwanda have embraced digital health to collaborate with healthcare professionals in the United States to fill knowledge and capacity gaps. And for large countries where population centres exist in remote locations like Brazil and Canada, telemedicine can allow patients access to primary healthcare needs where resources are scarce.
Of course, a virtual appointment with a doctor cannot replicate an in-person visit. Without blood-pressure cups, you cannot be tested for high-blood pressure. Broken limbs cannot be effectively diagnosed or treated without physical contact. Not to mention ailments like diabetes and strep throat which require blood tests or swabs.
But this shouldn’t take away from the myriad other medical issues that can be addressed via telemedicine. Including one medical concern that affects nearly one-in-two Canadian men over the age of 40.
Erectile dysfunction (ED) a complex condition involving physiological, psychological and emotional factors, can often be treated effectively with a combination of lifestyle changes and prescription medication. Despite tried and true solutions for ED, men can be reluctant to discuss sexual health issues with a medical professional.
In fact, men are less likely to discuss any health issues with their doctor. One study found that men have more trouble than women in expressing their medical concerns, and consult a general practitioner later in the course of a medical condition. When you consider added feelings of inadequacy and embarrassment that can be associated with ED, men can be even less likely to arrange a doctor’s visit for sexual health — let alone ask for and fill a prescription.
Telemedicine can play an important role in men’s sexual health by avoiding some of the drawbacks of visiting a physician in person. Online pharmacies like UPGUYS allow men seeking seuxal health medical advice to do so from the comfort of their own home. After filling out a short questionnaire, where patients fill out important information pertaining to allergies and current medications, an appointment with certified medical professionals is scheduled. The online appointment then involves virtual face-to-face interaction where a frank and private discussion can take place. If it’s decided that medication is the right route to take, a professional will prescribe it, allowing the patient to shop online. The medication is then delivered in discreet packaging.
Compare this method to scheduling an appointment with a doctor’s office, physically going to the appointment, being examined and filling the prescription at a pharmacy, and you can see why telemedicine can be an effective way for men to get the help they need.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has brought telemedicine to the forefront in an accelerated way. Physical distancing requirements make it difficult to consult a doctor in person, and crowded waiting rooms are unideal at the best of times. While virtual doctors visits might be gaining attention more recently, their utility is not new. More than 55 million consultations were conducted by American company Kaiser Permanente in 2016 through online portals, virtual visits or apps — a number representing more than half of its overall consultations.
In the UK, it’s predicted that medical consultations through telemedicine will become the norm by 2030. Normalization of online visits will continue throughout this decade and into the future in Canada and around the world. Technology and advanced internet connectivity will only serve to increase the number of medications treatable via telemedicine — perhaps accurate measurements of blood pressure will be possible without the blood-pressure cuff.
In the meantime, men can already avail themselves of professional medical advice through online pharmacies to treat erectile dysfunction. If they grow accustomed to accessing virtual medical support for ED, we might see an overall increased willingness for men to address their health concerns online. In 30 years, fathers, brothers and uncles may no longer be as hesitant as they are now to seek medical attention. And that’s good news for everybody.
