Testimonials
What clinicians and patients are saying about eConsult
"I had a question about an allergy to PEG (in Buckley's) from a patient today and whether she should get the AZ vaccine. I sent an eConsult through my EMR to "Covid-19 Vaccine - Allergy/immunology provincial group" at 2:13 today. I received a reply by 5:24 and called the patient.”
- Dr. Michelle Greiver, North York General Hospital
"eConsult provides an opportunity to ask a specialist a question that might not require a visit. In my experience, I’ve had prompt, thorough responses from specialists that allowed me to prevent delays in my patients’ management. In other cases, they have confirmed what I wanted to try and built my confidence in managing some complex patients. eConsult has also saved my patients travel to a tertiary centre, which they have greatly appreciated. Contact OntarioMD to enroll in the Provincial eConsult Initiative and give eConsult a try!“
- Dr. Kellie Scott, Lead Physician, Elmwood Family Health Organization, Elgin Sub-LHIN Clinical Lead, SW LHIN
"I have been using eConsult more frequently and with much more ease since its integration into my EMR. Most specialists reply within three days. Overall, I love having this quick and effective service integrated into the EMR, which has saved me many unnecessary referrals. I can only remember one occasion where I went on to send a referral after such a consult."
- Dr. Julia Zhu, West London Family Health Team
"eConsult provides an opportunity to ask a specialist a question that might not require a visit. In my experience, I’ve had prompt, thorough responses from specialists that allowed me to prevent delays in my patients’ management. In other cases, they have confirmed what I wanted to try and built my confidence in managing some complex patients. eConsult has also saved my patients travel to a tertiary centre, which they have greatly appreciated. Contact OntarioMD to enroll in the Provincial eConsult Initiative and give eConsult a try!“
- Dr. Kellie Scott, Lead Physician, Elmwood Family Health Organization, Elgin Sub-LHIN Clinical Lead, SW LHIN
"I have found the eConsult/EMR integration a very useful tool for providing patient care in Ontario."
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Dr. Eric Hirshberg, Staff Urologist Guelph General Hospital
"Recently, OntarioMD set up our office for secure eConsults. I sent out my first request for a second opinion on a skin lesion. I took a picture, uploaded it and sent it off for a dermatology opinion. I was reasonably sure that it was non-cancerous and I received a confirmation within two days.
The process saved the patient a lot of time and money as he would have had to take a day off to go see the specialist.
This is a great example of how technology can improve health care. While eConsults won't work in all situations, in other cases, they will help to provide better and faster care, save the system a lot of money and create more availability for specialists.
Next, I'm looking forward to using other technological advances such as eReferrals."
- Dr. Anil Maheshwari, Family Physician, Grandview Medical Centre FHO
"Using eConsult allows family physicians to connect quickly with specialists, arrange consultations, and possibly preventing patients from travelling great distances for care. As a specialist or family physician, I hope you will consider signing up to use eConsult!"
- Dr. Martin Lees, Primary Care & Clinical Quality Lead, Erie St. Clair LHIN and Health Quality Ontario
"I think eConsult is a very useful tool and the timely feedback I receive from specialists helps my patients tremendously! I typically send eConsults to help me rule out a diagnosis or answer a quick question. In one case, eConsult helped me diagnose an abnormal form of cancer which would've gone untreated.The system has given me access to specialities not available in my region, and with its help, I've been able to prevent travel for my patients and treat them where they live. In one case, eConsult helped me diagnose an abnormal form of cancer which would've gone untreated. The nice thing about eConsult is that I didn't have to make major adjustments to my workflow to use it."
- Dr. Katherine Richardson: Family Physician, City of Lakes FHT, Sudbury, North East LHIN
"My doctor told me about how she used eConsult to get a specialist's advice quickly to treat my condition. I appreciated not having to take time off work to go and see the specialist. I'm comfortable with my family doctor continuing to treat me and I'm thankful that she used this innovative tool to save me time."
- Chris G. (patient)
"I use OTN eConsult as a delegate on behalf of the family physicians and when they want an eConsult, they send me a secure message with the name of the patient, the question they want to ask and highlight which information from the EMR they want attached as background information. The specialists have been very responsive and it takes me under 10 minutes to submit an eConsult and the system is really easy to use."
- Robert Lapointe, Telemedicine RPN in City of Lakes FHT, Sudbury, North East LHIN