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Patients who use virtual walk-in clinics more likely to go to ER later: study

Online appointments with family doctor lead to an in person follow up, which reduces trips to emergency room

3 min read
lauren_lapointe_shaw

Lead study author Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw is a general internist at Toronto General Hospital and an assistant professor at U of T.


People who used a virtual-only medical service — a kind of virtual walk-in clinic — during the pandemic were more likely to later go to an emergency room than patients who did appointments with their own family doctor online, a study by Toronto researchers has shown.

The study published Thursday in the Journal of Medical Internet Research explores the different outcomes between two kinds of virtual medical care during the pandemic — that given by walk-in-style clinics and that given by family doctors.

Patty Winsa

Patty Winsa is a Toronto-based data reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: pwinsa@thestar.ca.

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