Telemedicine maybe an effective solution for management of chronic disease during the COVID-19 epidemic

Abstract

Aim: Based on the development of telemedicine and the experience of using it during the COVID-19 epidemic, we aimed to explore its convenience and shortcomings to provide a reference for the further improvement of telemedicine. Background: Traditional healthcare has been significantly affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, which has increased fear in patients with chronic diseases and increased the difficulty of obtaining hospitalized treatment. Methods: This is a conceptual article. The literature search is based on Pubmed, including articles published between January 2015 and December 2020. The purpose was to determine whether telemedicine is effective in the management of chronic diseases in the epidemic situation and to develop telemedicine and chronic disease management for long-term epidemic situations in the future. Findings: Telemedicine has demonstrated its advantages during the COVID-19 epidemic and can provide diversified clinical care services for patients with chronic diseases; these services have played a vital role in epidemic prevention and control, greatly alleviated the shortage of medical resources, increased the utilization level of medical resources, and reduced the cross-infection risk during treatment in hospitals. Furthermore, the epidemic situation presents opportunities for the development of diagnosis and treatment methods via the internet and active health management modalities.

The worldwide impact of telemedicine during COVID-19: current evidence and recommendations for the future

“…Most clinics in the Gulf countries turned to telemedicine to enact this, via methods such as phone calls, e-mail, Zoom®, and Microsoft Teams®, as well as smartphone-based technologies such as WhatsApp® and specific health apps [64] . They used these platforms for virtual visits and consultations, medication refills, rescheduling appointments, reviewing the measurements of vital signs, and so on [65][66][67] . Prior to COVID-19, most patients of these clinics had not used telemedicine platforms, but, due to high levels of access to smartphones and other devices and the wide availability of Internet in Saudi Arabia, relatively simple telemedicine clinics could be implemented quickly and smoothly, without too much additional burden being placed on the health system [65] .…”

“…The community lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in China encouraged the use of telemedicine for both the prevention and management of COVID-19 and the management of chronic diseases. Three types of telemedicine platforms providing online services were adopted during the epidemic in China: (1) Internet hospitals operated by public hospitals; (2) Internet hospitals operated by online healthcare enterprises; and (3) local government digital service platforms [ 68 ] . The services provided included: (1) consultations services for COVID-19; (2) consultation services for derived health problems, particularly psychological counseling; (3) telemedicine and medical imaging teleconsultation; (4) general practice medicine for common and chronic diseases; (5) screening solutions to identify highly suspected COVID-19 patients, often based on AI; and (6) medical assistant robots.…”

Nurses’ experience of using video consultation in a digital care setting and its impact on their workflow and communication

“…The results have shown that the use of telemedicine in health care is crucial and it has the potential to improve the decision-making process and management of numerous chronic diseases. [ 20 – 24 ].…”

Perception Disparity of Telemedicine Use between Outpatients and Medical Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The telemedicine regulations were relaxed until one month after the Level 3 epidemic alert lifted. Telemedicine provided continuity of care during the COVID-19 pandemic and was demonstrated as an effective solution for chronic illness management [ 4 ].…”