Remote doctor visits: are they here to stay?

Instead of crowding in a packed room to wait and see your doctor with coughs, sneezes and the unknown surrounding you, many people turned to remote doctor visits since the beginning of the pandemic.

President of the Saskatchewan Medical Association, Dr. Eben Strydom, said they may be here to stay.

“I think everything is going well,” he told Brent Loucks Monday morning. “Most doctors like doing it. It provides excellent access and a good time management tool for patients, as well. It has its limitations, but I foresee that this is here to stay.”

Strydom said the decision, ultimately, is up to the Ministry of Health.

He added remote visits are mostly done over the phone. The technology simply wasn’t there to do video calling, consistently, during the beginning of the pandemic.

While a lot of things were done virtually over the past 16 months, there are still many other cases that need to be in-person.

Ultimately, Strydom said, the question comes down to “How can we best make use of their time and our time?”

“It is certainly a game-changer for access,” He said. “(Remote care) is something we (doctors) wanted to do for a long time. The pandemic really helped us to get it there.”