General Practice, often the subject of heartfelt books like Dr. Liam Farrell’s “Are you the Fxxcking Doctor?” and Dr. Lucia Gannon’s “All in a Doctor’s Day: Memoirs of an Irish Country Practice,” is a first-class career choice, filled with emotion and patient stories.
However, the field faces a crisis. Nearly 30% of our GP workforce is nearing retirement, and the shortage of new GPs is a growing concern. Ireland’s aging population with complex health needs places an immense workload on the remaining practitioners.
Time is a GP’s most valuable asset, yet traditional 10-15-minute appointments cannot meet the demands of the population in need. Until now, synchronous care methods such as face-to-face, telephone, or video consultations were the norm.
In 2019, asynchronous communication via text and email became the dominant form of interaction, and it’s now an integral part of our daily lives through various apps. General Practice can benefit from this shift, as not every patient interaction requires a face-to-face meeting. Asynchronous communication liberates time, allowing GPs to allocate more attention to patients who need extensive care, such as house visits to centenarian patients.
Consider this: 66% of the world’s population consists of millennials and Generation Z, who are digital natives. A significant 73% of them prefer seeking medical advice online rather than visiting a doctor’s office. This preference is fueling the growth of online healthcare services.
However, successful asynchronous care requires coordination between doctors and patients on a single, multifunctional platform. MyClinic365 is tailored for this purpose, offering all the necessary tools for modern communication in one place. To remain relevant and engage younger generations in primary care, adopting digital asynchronous communication is essential. It enables scalability, accessibility, and the preservation of our sanity as healthcare providers in a fast-paced world.
