Telemedicine: Doctors Can't Get No Patient Satisfaction If They Aren't Prescribing Antibiotics, and That Could Be a Problem

​Receiving prescriptions for antibiotics was significantly associated with increased patient satisfaction among patients accessing care for respiratory tract infections through telemedicine, according to an October 1, 2018, research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine. The authors looked at 8,437 encounters completed between January 1, 2013, and August 31, 2016. Two-thirds (5,580) of these encounters resulted in the prescription of an antibiotic. A significant majority of patients (90.9%) who received prescriptions for antibiotics during the encounter rated their satisfaction as five stars (out of five).