Online pharmacies tend to get a bad rap. Some sell fake medicines; others peddle you drugs you don’t need. However, a new study from the University of Utah found that online prescribing was actually better than traditional medicine for the sample group.
Online pharmacies tend to get a bad rap. Some sell fake medicines; others peddle you drugs you don’t need. However, a new study from the University of Utah found that online prescribing was actually better than traditional medicine for the sample group.
Confused? The researchers analyzed the data from 1,000 persons. All were men with sexual problems, and half went to a family doctor and the rest to www.kwikMed.com, which has a contract with the state of Utah to provide erectile-dysfunction drugs.
The experiences of both were compared through the patient medical records, according to what sort of information they received, whether the prescription was appropriate, and how well the patient was questioned to classify their medical problem.
According to the study, the e-prescription got better information and were more rigorously questioned than those who went to a family doctor.
Of course, given that www.kwikMed.com has a contract with the state of Utah and the company has urologists monitoring the e-prescription process, this is no fly-by-night operation. Still, the results suggest that internet prescriptions need not be a recipe for disaster, if there are safeguards to ensure they are done right.