A Symposium on the Clinic of the Future and Telehealth: Highlights and Future Directions

Abstract

Children's National Hospital held a virtual symposium on "The Clinic of the Future and Telehealth" in December 2020. The goal of the symposium was to explore future trends in these domains. We also discussed how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic accelerated ongoing changes in healthcare. We explored what is on the horizon in these fields and how these changes might affect care delivery in the future. Specifically, we discussed the "Clinic of the Future" with clinical teams from genetics and metabolism, orthopedic surgery, and primary care while our telehealth discussion involved genetics and metabolism, psychiatry, and telerehabilitation. As one example, wearable technology could be adopted among primary care practices and drive a shift in outpatient care from center-based care to patient-based care. We also examined technological innovations in physical exam instruments, gait analysis, imaging integration, and cast technology that could modernize the orthopedic surgery clinic. Telemedicine has rapidly expanded among all fields of medicine, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, and has spurred innovation to improve the effectiveness of virtual physician visits. The development of technology to improve the virtual physical exam, during a telemedicine visit, further increases the utility of online appointments and increases access to care in all specialties. The incorporation of photogrammetry technology, in genetics and metabolism dysmorphology exams, will offer standardized tracking of patients that could improve diagnosis and treatment. Psychiatry has found nearly equal efficacy in diagnosis and treatment with telehealth visits and the additional benefit of gaining insight in the setting of the patients' home. Robotics has become increasingly common in rehabilitation, which can now incorporate a gaming experience that can be remotely updated and increase engagement and adherence in pediatric patients. The continued exploration of new ideas promises to improve both in-person and virtual care options.

Experiences of the Telemedicine and eHealth Conferences in Poland—A Cross-National Overview of Progress in Telemedicine

“…Many newly created telemedicine solutions need to be noted. The development of telemedicine, using various telecommunication methods was developed and implemented with remarkable speed due to the outbreak of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic [62][63][64][65][66].…”

Use of Telemedicine Healthcare Systems in Children and Adolescents with Chronic Disease or in Transition Stages of Life: Consensus Document of the Italian Society of Telemedicine (SIT), of the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS), of the Italian Society of Pediatric Primary Care (SICuPP), of the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors (FIMP) and of the Syndicate of Family Pediatrician Doctors (SIMPeF)

“…Specialized centers capable of caring for these children are few and mainly located in third-level hospitals, but the need to circulate expertise while leaving the child in his or her territory of reference is increasingly recognized. For these reasons, telemedicine is a valuable resource for children with rare diseases [ 66 , 67 ].…”

“…Teleconsultation to the referring physicians in the child’s area of residence by centers with expertise in individual rare diseases makes it possible to select and optimize in-patient admissions. In combination with teleconsultations, this makes it possible on the one hand to reduce the workload for specialized facilities and, on the other hand, to reduce waiting times and the discomfort of transferring often fragile and multihandicapped children to centers far away from their territory of residence [ 66 ].…”

Emerging Technologies for Next Generation Remote Health Care and Assisted Living

“…Remote monitoring and aid are among the most essential remote health care services. Considering the current COVID-19 pandemic situations and the foreseen post-pandemic era, it is highly expected that several advanced remote health care services and challenges will emerge [295]. The role of AI will be immense in the next generation remote health care systems for automating different processes, e.g., automatic monitoring, diagnosis and corresponding recommendation for the treatments [296].…”