Telemedicine: Potential applications in epidemic situations

Ohannessian, Robin

doi:10.1016/j.eurtel.2015.08.002

Cited by 138 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Although the ultimate solution for COVID -19 will be multifaceted, it is one of the effective ways to use existing technologies to facilitate optimal service delivery while minimizing the risk of direct person-to-person exposure (7,14). The use of telemedicine at the time of epidemic conditions (COVID-19 outbreak) has the potential to improve epidemiological research, disease control and clinical case management (7,14,15).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of telehealth during COVID-19 outbreak: A systematic review based on current evidence

Monaghesh

Hajizadeh

2020

Preprint

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Abstract Purpose: The outbreak of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is a public health emergency of international concern. Telehealth is an effective option to fight the outbreak of COVID-19. The aim of this systematic review was to identify the role of telehealth services in preventing, diagnosing, treating, and controlling diseases during COVID-19 outbreak.Methods: This systematic review was conducted through searching five databases including PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Science Direct. Inclusion criteria included studies clearly defining any use of telehealth services in all aspects of health care during COVID-19 outbreak, published from December 31, 2019, written in English language and published in peer reviewed journals. Two reviewers independently assessed search results, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. Quality assessment was based on the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) checklist. Narrative synthesis was undertaken to summarize and report the findings.Results: Eight studies met the inclusion out of the 142 search results. Currently, healthcare providers and patients who are self-isolating, telehealth is certainly appropriate in minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission. This solution has the potential to prevent any sort of direct physical contact, provide continuous care to the community, and finally reduce morbidity and mortality in COVID-19 outbreak.Conclusions: The use of telehealth improves the provision of health services. Therefore, telehealth should be an important tool in caring services while keeping patients and health providers safe during COVID-19 outbreak.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of telehealth during COVID-19 outbreak: A systematic review based on current evidence

Monaghesh

Hajizadeh

2020

Preprint

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“…3), which indicates that the accuracy of influenza diagnosis can be improved without direct face-to-face communication and can be used in telemedicine. In recent years, telemedicine has been reported to be useful not only for the management of chronic diseases 18 and for improvement in the quality of emergency care 19 , but also for initial treatment of epidemic diseases 20 . Minimising clinical visits of outpatients with mild symptoms involving a low complication risk is important in controlling influenza transmission because visits to a medical institution may result in potential exposure to an influenza virus 21 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors associated with seasonal influenza self-diagnosis: a prospective observational study in Japan

Maita

Kobayashi

Akimoto

et al. 2020

npj Prim. Care Respir. Med.

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This prospective observational study, conducted at a community clinic in Japan during the influenza season, from December 2017 to April 2018 aimed to investigate the accuracy of factors used for influenza self-diagnosis. Data were collected from preexamination checklists issued to patients with suspected influenza and electronic medical records. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed using a rapid influenza diagnostic test as the reference standard, and 2 × 2 contingency tables were analysed at each cutoff point. We analysed data from 290 patients (72.8% males, median age: 38 years, interquartile range: 26-50 years). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for patients who were aware of other patients presumed to have influenza within close proximity was 0.74 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.66-0.82). The AUCs for patients with a history of influenza, unvaccinated status, cough, or nasal discharge were 0.68 (95% CI: 0.60-0.75), 0.66 (95% CI: 0.59-0.73), 0.67 (95% CI: 0.59-0.75), and 0.70 (95% CI: 0.62-0.78), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and positive likelihood ratio at a 90% cutoff point was 19.5% (95% CI: 13.5-26.6%), 94.1% (95% CI: 88.7-97.4%) and 3.31 (95% CI: 1.57-6.98). The sensitivity, specificity and negative likelihood ratio at a 10% cutoff point was 95.5% (95% CI: 90.9-98.2%), 9.6% (95% CI: 5.2-15.8%) and 0.48 (95% CI: 0.20-1.16). After multivariate logistic regression analysis, the AUC increased significantly from 0.77 (95% CI: 0.70-0.83) to 0.81 (95% CI: 0.76-0.86) when self-diagnosisrelated information was added to basic clinical information. We identified factors that improve the accuracy and validity of influenza self-diagnosis. Appropriate self-diagnosis could contribute to the containment efforts during influenza epidemics and reduce its social and economic burden.

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“…[16] The acquired data could contribute to improve epidemiological investigations and disease control, helping healthcare policy makers to direct resources and relocate professionals based on concrete scenarios. [17][18] Despite this potential as epidemiological evidence gathering tools, telemedicine systems have not yet been integrated into epidemiological databases or search tools. [2][3] An example of a well-established telemedicine infrastructure is the Santa Catarina State Integrated Telemedicine and Telehealth System (STT/SC), a statewide public telemedicine network located at the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil.…”

Section: National Unified Public Health System (Sus) Including the Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Online Georeferenced Epidemiological Analysis and Visualization into a Telemedicine Infrastructure – First Results

Wangenheim

Savaris

Borgatto

et al. 2019

Preprint

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With the objective to perform a first evaluation of the impact of the integration of a graphic spatial epidemiology tool that allows quasi-realtime georeferenced data visualization into a telemedicine infrastructure, this work presents GISTelemed, an online module specialized on indexing structured and semi-structured data, as well as querying the indexed content using structured and free-text search. We evaluated GISTelemed accordingly to the guidelines published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and input provided by a questionnaire customized according to AdEQUATE (questionnAire for Evaluation of QUAlity in TElemedicine systems). 39 healthcare professionals from 13 municipalities participated in the evaluation. We analyzed data from questionnaires using descriptive statistics, being Lernability and Comfort the characteristics that received the best evaluation. Quantitative evaluation based upon leprosis cases detected through tele-dermatology showed a sensitivity and PPV of respectively 77.2% and 95.3%. 22.8% of the cases detected were un-notified cases. Results from our case study show a good evaluation regarding the perceived software quality. We conclude that the integration of spatial epidemiology tools to the STT/SC system, besides enabling visualization of data in maps, allowed users to analyze the evolution of morbidities and their co-occurrences.

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Telemedicine: Potential applications in epidemic situations

Cited by 138 publications

References 8 publications

The role of telehealth during COVID-19 outbreak: A systematic review based on current evidence

The role of telehealth during COVID-19 outbreak: A systematic review based on current evidence

Factors associated with seasonal influenza self-diagnosis: a prospective observational study in Japan

Integrating Online Georeferenced Epidemiological Analysis and Visualization into a Telemedicine Infrastructure – First Results

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