Telemedicine and Smart Working: Recommendations of the European Association of Urology

Abstract

Context: Telemedicine provides remote clinical support using technological tools. It may facilitate health care delivery while reducing unnecessary visits to the clinic. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has caused an abrupt change in our daily urological practice, converting many of us to be reliant on telehealth. Objective: To provide practical recommendations for effective use of technological tools in telemedicine. Evidence acquisition: A Medline-based and gray literature search was conducted through April 2020. We selected the most relevant articles related to "telemedicine" and "smart working" that could provide important information. Evidence synthesis: Telemedicine refers to the use of electronic information and telecommunications tools to provide remote clinical health care support. Smart working is a model of work that uses new or existing technologies to improve performance. Telemedicine is becoming a useful invaluable tool during and even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. It is time for us to formalize the place of telemedicine in routine urological practice, and it is our responsibility to adapt and learn about all the tools and possible strategies for their optimal implementation during the pandemic to ensure that the quality of care received by patients and the outcomes of patients and their families are of the highest standard. Conclusions: Telemedicine facilitates specialized urological clinical support at a distance, solves problems of limitations in mobility, reduces unnecessary visits to clinics, and is useful for reducing the risk of viral transmission in the current COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, both personal and societal considerations may favor continued use of telemedicine, even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implementing Telemedicine for the Management of Benign Urologic Conditions: A Single Centre Experience in Italy

“…Our study reported the data of more than 600 phone counselling for urological benign pathology: notwithstanding the simple call may seem an obsolete approach for telemedicine and may even seem inadequate for clinical visits, it perfectly matches the recommendations of the European Association of Urology [8]. In fact, the phone call, performed by using hospital phones, can be considered the rst and easiest approach for telemedicine, as reported in previously published experiences, for the management of prostate cancer [11], hematuria [12], stones [13,14], urinary incontinence [15,16] and urinary tract infections [17].…”

“…In order to ll the blank of o cial guidelines concerning the correct execution of a telemedicine counseling, Socarrás et al [8] outlined its main principles and characteristics, highlighting some crucial aspects such the maintenance of professionalism, privacy, con dentiality whilst reaching satisfying levels of data transmission and comprehension.…”

Telemedicine Usage Among Urologists During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Study

“…Globally, health care systems aggressively pushed for increased usage of telemedicine, with institutions such as New York University increasing their telemedicine use by over 4000% during this time [ 8 ]. The increase in telemedicine has inspired several organizations, including the European Association of Urology, to create recommendations for its professional usage, and some subspecialties have even provided guidelines for treating specific conditions via telemedicine [ 9 , 10 ]. The major shift in health care brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has also seemingly incentivized all health care practices to more readily adopt telemedicine in their practices.…”

Implementing telemedicine for the management of benign urologic conditions: a single centre experience in Italy

“…Our study reported the data of more than 600 phone counselling for urological benign pathology: notwithstanding the simple call may seem an obsolete approach for telemedicine and may even seem inadequate for clinical visits, it perfectly matches the recommendations of the European Association of Urology [ 10 ]. In fact, the phone call, performed using hospital phones, can be considered the first and easiest approach for telemedicine, as reported in previously published experiences, for the management of prostate cancer [ 11 ], hematuria [ 12 ], stones [ 13 , 14 ], urinary incontinence [ 15 , 16 ] and urinary tract infections [ 17 ].…”

“…To fill the blank of official guidelines concerning the correct execution of a telemedicine counseling, Rodriguez Socarrás et al [ 10 ] outlined its main principles and characteristics, highlighting some crucial aspects such the maintenance of professionalism, privacy, confidentiality whilst reaching satisfying levels of data transmission and comprehension.…”