Physicians may overprescribe antibiotics to kids during telemedicine visits
Telemedicine is convenient and cost effective, but the newest and fastest growing form of urgent health care has a potential downside.
Children are more likely to be overprescribed antibiotics for colds, sinus infections and sore throats during telemedicine visits than during in-person visits to primary care providers or urgent care facilities, suggests a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study, conducted by Kristin Ray, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and colleagues, appears in Pediatrics.