Women’s healthcare online: time to make your life easier

It’s no secret that many women put their own health last. Some women tend to delay seeing a doctor with their health concerns. This is “usually because women take the lion’s share of caring responsibilities,” says InstantScripts telehealth doctor Dr Sonja. 

Caring for children (as well as for elderly or other dependent family members) can leave little time to prioritise a doctor’s visit for yourself. Throw in work or study responsibilities, and getting to the doctor becomes almost impossible. 

But our InstantScript doctors get to see first-hand how online healthcare can make life easier for women. 

Dr Sonja, along with colleagues Dr Anja and Dr Built, share their thoughts on how InstantScripts is helping to transform women’s healthcare online. 

Women’s healthcare online

Dr Sonja is a strong advocate for virtual medicine in women’s health. “Online health has been very good for women,” she says, “across all age groups and across all disease processes and needs and wants”. 

And Dr Anja sees online healthcare as a “very individual and safe space to deliver healthcare all over Australia,” where women “have access to healthcare as soon as they want. And they have access to high quality health care.”

Dr Built agrees that many of the unique health issues faced by women can be addressed effectively through online healthcare. 

Can online healthcare really cover the range of women’s healthcare services that are offered by traditional GP practices? What kinds of help can women receive through digital medical services?

Contraceptive medication

Dr Built is excited about how online healthcare has transformed access to contraceptives. She says, “Contraceptive pills are something that we women obviously stay on for long stretches of time. And a lot of the time just trying to get in to see a GP for a script renewal for the pill can be difficult.”

And it’s easy, Dr Built says, to accidently run out of your contraceptive medicine. “Sometimes you might think ‘that was my second last pack’, but it’s actually the last one. And with something like birth control, missing a dose obviously can mean a lot more than just that.”

With InstantScripts, quickly getting a prescription for a contraceptive you’re already on is simple. Scripts can be filled at the pharmacy of your choice, or even home delivered, so getting the pill has never been more convenient. 

UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections)

Almost 50% of women will have at least one UTI during their life. And Dr Built says, “If you’re in pain, you actually want to get it sorted rather than wait three days for a GP appointment. By that time, who knows? You could get a bit of a bladder infection rather than just a simple UTI.”

Online healthcare platforms, like InstantScripts, provide quick access to professional medical advice, diagnosis, and treatment for UTIs. 

Pregnancy

Proper prenatal care is crucial. And online healthcare allows pregnant women to monitor their health and ask questions from the comfort of their homes. This can be especially handy when there’s other little ones to care for.

It can also be helpful, Dr Built says, for “things like nausea through pregnancy in the early stages.”

“You want to treat that quite quickly rather than have a poor lady vomiting three to four times a day, while she’s waiting around trying to get into the GP for medication that we can easily provide a script for.”

“I think online healthcare has made pregnancy, in general, a bit easier for a lot of people.” she says. 

Sexual Health 

For Dr Anja, one of the strengths of online healthcare is privacy. This helps people with conditions that might hold stigma, like sexually transmitted infections (STIs). 

Some women hesitate to seek care, as having an STI can be a “very sensitive topic that people are often very ashamed to seek help for in person,” she says. 

“So online healthcare provides that safe space to talk about these things or get diagnosed and treated.”

Mental Health

According the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, anxiety and depressive disorders are in the top 5 most disabling illnesses for women in Australia. And managing mental health concerns within the current stretched healthcare system is a massive challenge. 

Dr Sonja sees how online healthcare is filling a big gap in the system. “We can actually bulk-bill for mental health care programs,” she says. 

“And we can also put patients in touch with online providers for counselling, such as My Mirror who do psychology appointments online. So, especially for people in rural areas, it’s great.”

Benefits of online healthcare

The advantages of women’s healthcare online are huge, improving:

• Convenience: Consultations and care from home, saving time and effort.
• Accessibility: Overcoming geographical barriers to reach qualified doctors, 7 days a week.
• Privacy: Discussing sensitive health topics without discomfort.
• Timely Support: Quick access to medical advice, especially for urgent concerns.

Our InstantScripts doctors are convinced our online health services can help remove some of the barriers to healthcare access. We help women access care on their own schedule. And faster and easier healthcare access could improve the chances of catching problems sooner and managing them more effectively.