Impact of a telemedicine system on work burden and mental health of healthcare providers working with COVID-19: a multicenter pre-post prospective study

Abstract

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacts not only patients but also healthcare providers. This study seeks to investigate whether a telemedicine system reduces physical contact in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigates nurses’ distress and depression. Methods Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in 4 hospitals and 1 designated accommodation measured and uploaded their vital signs to secure cloud storage for remote monitoring. Additionally, a mat-type sensor placed under the bed monitored the patients’ respiratory rates. Using the pre-post prospective design, visit counts and health care providers’ mental health were assessed before and after the system was introduced. Results A total of 100 nurses participated in the study. We counted the daily visits for 48 and 69 patients with and without using the telemedicine system. The average patient visits were significantly less with the system (16.3 [5.5–20.3] vs 7.5 [4.5–17.5] times/day, P = .009). Specifically, the visit count for each vital sign assessment was about half with the telemedicine system (all P < .0001). Most nurses responded that the system was easy to use (87.1%), reduced work burden (75.2%), made them feel relieved (74.3%), and was effective in reducing the infection risk in hospitals (79.1%) and nursing accommodations (95.0%). Distress assessed by Impact of Event Scale-Revised and depression by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were at their minimum even without the system and did not show any significant difference with the system (P = .72 and .57, respectively). Conclusions Telemedicine-based self-assessment of vital signs reduces nurses’ physical contact with COVID-19 patients. Most nurses responded that the system is easy and effective in reducing healthcare providers’ infection risk.

Impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on emergency transport times for patients with urological diseases

“…Symptoms and infection status related to COVID-19 became confusing and stressful, particularly during the early stages of the pandemic when limited information was available (41)(42)(43). An urgent need emerged in Japan to create a process that would not strain the medical system (44,45). During this period, individuals tended to avoid medical clinics and hospitals due to fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection (46,47), and patients with mild symptoms and those who were younger (48,49) tended to not use emergency services (50)(51)(52).…”

A Cost-Effective Vital Sign Monitoring System Harnessing Smartwatch for Home Care Patients

“…For example, a research has developed a telemedicine system for COVID-19 patients [17]. Their research was continued, and the system was able to reduce the number of nurse visits to patients' rooms, especially for vital sign examinations [18]. Another study developed a COVID-19 patient monitoring system in hospital isolation rooms using two types of commercial wearable sensors (Figure 2) [19].…”