Narrative review of telemedicine applications in decentralized research

Abstract

Telemedicine enables critical human communication and interaction between researchers and participants in decentralized research studies. There is a need to better understand the overall scope of telemedicine applications in clinical research as the basis for further research. This narrative, nonsystematic review of the literature sought to review and discuss applications of telemedicine, in the form of synchronous videoconferencing, in clinical research. We searched PubMed to identify relevant literature published between January 1, 2013, and June 30, 2023. Two independent screeners assessed titles and abstracts for inclusion, followed by singlereviewer full-text screening, and we organized the literature into core themes through consensus discussion. We screened 1044 publications for inclusion. Forty-eight publications met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. We identified six core themes to serve as the structure for the narrative review: infrastructure and training, recruitment, informed consent, assessment, monitoring, and engagement. Telemedicine applications span all stages of clinical research from initial planning and recruitment to informed consent and data collection. While the evidence base for using telemedicine in clinical research is not well-developed, existing evidence suggests that telemedicine is a potentially powerful tool in clinical research.

Progress toward realizing the promise of decentralized clinical trials

“…Leveraging the acceptability of telemedicine for clinical care, a literature review by Cummins et al notes the power of this technology for clinical research and summarizes its many uses [ 12 ]. In another study reported in this issue, Cummins et al describe the breadth of technologies now being incorporated into clinical research to support decentralization, including centralized regulatory management, electronic signatures and consent, online payment systems, electronically delivered patient-reported outcome measures, wearables, and even home health nursing portals [ 13 ].…”