Background: Telemedicine was first introduced in Neurology as a tool to facilitate access to acute stroke treatment. More recently, evidence has emerged of the use of telemedicine in several other areas of Neurology. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social isolation, Brazilian authorities have expanded the regulation of the use of telemedicine, thus allowing the treatment of many patients with neurological diseases to be conducted with less risk of SARS-CoV-2 contamination. Objective: This study aimed to critically review the current evidence of the use, efficacy, safety, and usefulness of telemedicine in Neurology. Methods: A review of PubMed indexed articles was carried out by searching for the terms “telemedicine AND”: “headache”, “multiple sclerosis”, “vestibular disorders”, “cerebrovascular diseases”, “epilepsy”, “neuromuscular diseases”, “dementia”, and “movement disorders”. The more relevant studies in each of these areas were critically analyzed. Results: Several articles were found and analyzed in each of these areas of Neurology. The main described contributions of telemedicine in the diagnosis and treatment of such neurological conditions were presented, indicating a great potential of use of this type of assistance in all these fields. Conclusion: Current evidence supports that teleneurology can be a tool to increase care for patients suffering from neurological diseases.
Background: After the public health emergency due to COVID-19 was declared in Brazil, the federal government temporarily regulated and authorized the use of telemedicine services for patient consultation, monitoring, and diagnosis. For more than a decade, neurologists have recognized the benefits of telemedicine in the acute management of stroke patients. However, as the use of telemedicine was restricted until the COVID-19 pandemic, the view of Brazilian neurologists about telemedicine is unknown. Methods: All neurologists registered at the Brazilian Academy of Neurology were invited by e-mail to participate in a survey about personal perceptions on telemedicine use. Results: One hundred sixty-two neurologists from all regions of Brazil answered the online questionnaire. The survey showed that 18.5% of participants worked with telemedicine before the pandemic, while 63.6% reported working with telemedicine during the pandemic. The main telemedicine modalities used during the pandemic were teleorientation and teleconsultation. Discussion: According to our data, the COVID-19 pandemic deeply influenced the behavior of Brazilian neurologists, who developed a more favorable view about telemedicine and actively searched for information about telemedicine. As there is a need for more training in this area in Brazil, universities and medical societies must strive to improve telemedicine education. Expanding the use of high-quality teleneurology can contribute to a better care for patients with neurological diseases in Brazil.
Background: Brazil’s public health system, the largest in the world, faces great challenges in establishing access to specialized care for all Brazilians. “Regula Mais Brasil” is a structuring project from the Ministry of Health that aims to optimize the referral process for specialized care throughout Brazil and uses telemedicine to support primary care physicians. The high demand for support and referrals in the neurology specialty raises questions about what the difficulties and doubts in managing these patients are and whether the training of the coordinating physician influences the orientation and outcome of referral. Methods: In a retrospective analysis on a database, all teleconsultations in the neurology specialty were evaluated. The diagnoses were categorized using the ICD-10 and according to the specialty of the coordinating teleconsultant for multiple comparisons. Results: In total, 1687 teleconsultations were conducted between January 10 and December 2, 2019, in the cities of Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre and in the Federal District. The most frequent area of doubt for doctors was about epilepsy. After discussion via telemedicine, 25% of the referrals were avoided and the specialty of the teleconsultant physician did not impact the decision made: 72.3, 72.6 and 66.5%, in relation to approval by neurologists, family doctors and other experts, respectively. Conclusion: Increasing access to specialists, not only for patients but also for doctors, helps in achieving early resolution of issues of greater difficulty for primary healthcare doctors, thus resulting in lower numbers of referrals.
Background: Telemedicine develops from technology that offers opportunities for knowledge transfer and information sharing and allows the provision of health services at a distance. Objective: To evaluate the number of publications on teleneurology in the last two decades in PubMed and the available evidence on the use of this technology in neurological clinical conditions. Methods: A quantitative assessment of publications related to telemedicine and neurology in the last two decades. A search was performed on the PubMed database for the descriptors ("Telemedicine"[Mesh]) AND "Neurology"[Mesh]). A review of the articles retrieved on the topic was carried out to evaluate the innovation processes used and applications in various clinical conditions involving teleneurology. Results: The search performed on March 14th 2022 resulted in 229 publications involving the topic of telemedicine and neurology between 1999 and 2022. Since 2000, there has been an increase in publications related to this topic, with a peak of 71 articles published in 2020, the year in which the World Health Organization defined the COVID-19 pandemic status. Conclusion: In the last two decades, teleneurology has been developing through the expansion of technological resources and the COVID-19 pandemic intensified this process. Different modalities of teleneurology are studied in several neurology subfields and include teleconsultation (between healthcare professionals or between healthcare professionals and patients), telerehabilitation, telemonitoring and tele-education. The advances achieved by teleneurology in this period encouraged technological innovations and health processes that developed opportunities to improve the care provided in a mechanism of constant evolution.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to characterize teleconsultations in neurology executed by Regula+Brasil project in Recife, a capital city in northeastern Brazil. METHODS: A descriptive study carried out by four private hospitals, in a partnership with the Ministry of Health in Brazil. Teleconsultation was performed preferably in the video modality. Conditions eligible for teleconsultation were headache, epilepsy, and cerebrovascular disorders. Period of analysis was May to September 2020. RESULTS: A total of 243 teleconsultations were analyzed, of which 76.95% was a first appointment. In 48.97% of cases, the teleconsultation represented the first opportunity for the patient to be consulted with the specialist. Among cases of first appointment, 20.16% were further referred to a faceto-face consultation and 21.81% could be redirected to primary health care. Headache disorders were the most predominant clinical conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation and development of telemedicine by Regula+Brasil during the COVID-19 pandemic represented an opportunity to assess the value of having teleconsultations added along the line of care from primary care to a medical specialty, promoting the coordination of care across different levels of complexity of care in the health system and improving access to specialized care.
Objective: to quantify the reasons for referrals of primary care physicians to neurology in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Method: cross-sectional study evaluating referrals from Primary Care to the specialty of Neurology in Belo Horizonte, registered in the NOVO SISREG regulatory system, from March 2019 to July 2020. Neurologists or family physicians from the Regula Mais Brasil project, with experience in referral protocols for neurology, carried out the evaluation of the main diagnoses. Results: 13,844 referrals to neurology were identified, with an average of 814.35 referrals per month. Headache, epilepsy and cerebrovascular disorders were the most common reasons, accounting for 55.5% of referrals. Other neurological conditions identified less frequently were parkinsonism, tremor, syncope and vertigo, responsible for 10.9% of referrals. Conclusion: most referrals did not prioritize only neurology expertise. It is possible that cultural aspects and the routine of physicians, health services and the community itself determined these referrals, raising awareness about the high demand, waiting time and possible clinical conditions that are soon ceasing to be managed by other specialties that also share these skills.
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