DrEd First online medical practice in Germany

Controversial model of online medical practice now in Germany

11/29/2011

Since Sunday, the first online doctor's office in Germany has been available on the Internet, through which patients not only receive a first diagnosis of certain illnesses, but are also supplied with prescriptions and medicines at their own request. Immediately after the launch of the new online medical practice "DrEd", the first critics were already reporting warning about the risks of such a remote diagnosis via the Internet.

The online medical practice "DrEd" has its headquarters in London and was developed on the model of the long-available English pioneer among the online medical practices. The products of Expert Health Ltd. founded online doctor's office "Dr. Thom "was the pioneer in this field and for the initiators also a good opportunity to distribute their own products. Because both "Dr. Thom "as well as the pharmacy chain through which the corresponding medicines are distributed belong to the Celesio Group. For the German market, David Meinertz and Amit Khutti have joined forces with the German doctors Dr. Ing. Jasper Mordhorst and Sebastian Winckler now launched the online medical practice "DrEd".

Online doctor's office offers consultation hours on various topics
Interested parties can now obtain a first diagnosis for certain illnesses via the online doctor's practice "DrEd" and, if necessary, also be supplied with the necessary medication. However, "DrEd" by no means has the right to offer any kind of medical support for any health problems, but confines itself deliberately to certain topics. These are, for example, in the field of men's health "typical male symptoms" such as impotence, premature ejaculation or hair loss, the statement on the website of "DrEd". Furthermore, the online doctor's office in the field of women's health offers consultations on "women-specific topics" such as the pill and cystitis. In the area of ​​sexual health, "DrEd" offers consultations on sexually transmitted infections, internal medicine consultations focus on elevated cholesterol, hypertension and asthma, and in the field of general medicine, smoking weaning and skin problems are the focus of the online consultation offered , Also on the subject of travel medicine "DrEd" offers consultations in which the medical care of travel-typical risks and complaints such as malaria or travel diarrhea are the focus.

Diagnosis position with the help of a detailed questionnaire
In the corresponding categories of online consultation hours, patients are asked to answer a comprehensive questionnaire, whereby the answers are recorded in the patient's respective patient file. This patient record, which can be viewed with the help of a registered access, is also used to diagnose the online physicians, whereby the patients may already be given initial treatment recommendations under certain circumstances. In most cases, the recommended therapeutic measures are based on the administration of medicines, which are sent directly to the patient on request via the mail-order pharmacy "apo-red" or for which a prescription is issued, so that those concerned can take care of the required preparations in the nearest pharmacy can. The drugs or prescriptions are, according to "DrEd" within two to three working days in the patients, while the affected are also given at the same time hints for taking medication in their "DrEd" online patient record.

Massive criticism of the model of online medical practices
The initiators of the online medical practice were already aware in advance that this completely new offer would not only find supporters in the German healthcare market, but no reason to rethink the business model once again. For example, the public relations officer for DrEd, Jens Apermann, said that it was no surprise that legal disputes with resident physicians followed. For example, the physician and pharmacist Wolfgang Becker-Brüser, the publisher of the independent information service "Arznei-Telegramm", described the model of online medical practices as "highly problematic". According to the experts, such "offers often only serve to make money in a lucrative area, the so-called lifestyle medicine." And Wolfgang Becker-Brüser is far from the only expert who is skeptical of the model of online medical practices. For example, Corinna Schäfer of the Medical Center for Quality in Medicine sees a considerable risk in this form of remote diagnosis. "Getting online diagnostics and then prescribing medication is risky," said the expert of the Medical Center for Quality in Medicine. In her view, a doctor must have seen the patient before a diagnosis can be made. Because the patients carry "a lot of information solely by their presence, by appearance, smell, tone of voice." In addition, the treating physicians must have the opportunity under the diagnostic position "to physically examine and listen to patients," said Schäfer.

Online medical practices more complicated than a doctor's visit
In the case of an online treatment by the web doctor, however, the claims of the expert of the Medical Center for Quality in Medicine on an adequate medical care of the patients are not completely fulfilled. Although there is the possibility of self-tests in the online medical practice, which are transmitted to a laboratory and their results are then evaluated by "DrED", and the affected have the option to upload photos of their diseases, but these methods can not replace a doctor's visit and are "more complicated than when I go to the doctor around the corner," emphasized Wolfgang Becker-Brüser. According to the publisher of the "medical telegram", the model of online medical practices is therefore "absurd" and unhelpful, especially since in Becker-Brüser's view, the focus is not so much on the user's illness but rather on the distribution of lifestyle products , (Fp)

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