I think it would benefit the public if more tests were designed and made available at the pharmacy without the need for a doctors prescription to test at home in your own clean space and in your own privacy for ailments you might have.
For example, emergency plan b which is an emergency contraceptive is now available in the pharmacy and many other stores without the need for a doctor's prescription and without needing to go to the hospital. This gives patients faster, easier access to demand of birth control options. Yes, it costs about $50, but it would be more expensive to need to drive to the doctor's office or hospital, or even a telehealth visit for this birth control through insurance, which you can now also get at Walmart and Costco, for instance. It's available to the public without any shame to need to access this product.
I'm also opening up the discussion to also making a demand for more and better "self-test kits" to be available in the pharmacy, for example, or at other major store that allows consumers/patients to access kits such as HIV self-test kits, and also COVID-19 self-test kits. Why not also develop other kits that can diagnose any type of bacterial, viral, fungal, prion, and other diseases with self-test kits which can be purchased at the pharmacy or other convenient store and then taken home to do on your own? This allows faster, more efficient, and cleaner process for healthcare.
We can benefit from the production of more selections of accurate self test kits for different diseases.
We also have on the market UTI self test kits but why not also kits for other diseases? Also, in addition to the side of the argument for self-test kits being available to the consumer at local pharmacies without the need for a prescription from a doctor, we also need better access to medicines. Medicines shouldn't be held in control of only the doctor. If medicines are that dangerous, maybe they're not that good for the patient/client. The natural alternative route should be used also in healthcare because if there's a condition that conventional medicine doesn't help, then other modalities should be considered...
Any thoughts on this discussion?
- The main challenge is accuracy and interpretation. Misuse or misinterpretation of results could delay professional care.
- Proper guidelines, counselling support (helplines, digital apps), and follow-up systems must be built around self-testing. Misdiagnosis & False Security
- Self-test kits based assessment carry the risk of false positives/negatives.
- A patient may believe they are healthy when the disease is at an early stage, or may panic unnecessarily.
Self-test kits are definitely useful although not necessarily appropriate in every instance, and have yet to be developed and validated for many conditions - so there’s a question of how the investment or interest can be stimulated to do so. However, there is definitely growing movement towards self-testing. In BC, Canada, self-test kits were recently launched for cervix screening (http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/screening/cervix/how-it-works/what-is-cervix-self-screening) with kits issued and returned by mail with no charge to the patient and no referral needed. The launch followed a successful validation project, which demonstrated not only the efficacy of the test, but the value in convenience, privacy and access for the patient, as well as cost savings across the health system in terms of reduced appointments, streamlined lab processes and earlier identification and treatment. Such successes certainly pave the way for further development of self-test options, and proves that they can be offered without direct cost to the patient while also offering system-wide benefits in savings of time, money and resources.