Telemedicine Use in Disasters: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Disasters have many deleterious effects and are becoming more frequent. From a health-care perspective, disasters may cause periods of stress for hospitals and health-care systems. Telemedicine is a rapidly growing technology that has been used to improve access to health-care during disasters. Telemedicine applied in disasters is referred to as disaster telemedicine. Our objective was to conduct a scoping literature review on current use of disaster telemedicine to develop recommendations addressing the most common barriers to implementation of a telemedicine system for regional disaster health response in the United States. Publications on telemedicine in disasters were collected from online databases. This included both publications in English and those translated into English. Predesigned inclusion/exclusion criteria and a PRISMA flow diagram were applied. The PRISMA flow diagram was used on the basis that it would help streamline the available literature. Literature that met the criteria was scored by 2 reviewers who rated relevance to commonly identified disaster telemedicine implementation barriers, as well as how disaster telemedicine systems were implemented. We also identified other frequently mentioned themes and briefly summarized recommendations for those topics. Literature scoring resulted in the following topics: telemedicine usage (42 publications), system design and operating models (43 publications), as well as difficulties with credentialing (5 publications), licensure (6 publications), liability (4 publications), reimbursement (5 publications), and technology (24 publications). Recommendations from each category were qualitatively summarized.

Telemedicine Familiarity and Post-Disaster Utilization of Emergency and Hospital Services for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions

“…The increasing frequency of extreme weather events highlights the need for broader investment in versatile care delivery methods such as telemedicine and more streamlined national policies to facilitate its use across multiple healthcare settings. 23,29 The results of this study suggest that telemedicine may play a key role in supporting the recovery of a community during the aftermath of a disaster, particularly where telemedicine is provided regardless of insurance product and at a low cost before a disaster. The expanded availability of telemedicine may mitigate the burden on the entire system by prioritizing in-person services for those who need them most.…”

“…The expanded availability of telemedicine may mitigate the burden on the entire system by prioritizing in-person services for those who need them most. 29 Supporting historically underserved populations to access telemedicine resources is needed to close health disparity gaps observed during and after disasters. 30 In future studies, researchers might consider how systems may ensure that all patients, particularly those in historically marginalized populations and those living in areas prone to extreme weather events, have equitable access to innovations like telemedicine and investigate its effects on downstream health disparities.…”

Central COVID-19 Coordination Centers in Germany: Description, Economic Evaluation, and Systematic Review

“…Successful telemedical approaches already exist in the preclinical care of severely injured people [ 17 , 18 ]. A national program for telemedicine consultation after neurotrauma could eliminate the need for 68% of patient transfers [ 19 ].…”

Telemedicine and medical education in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…At the same time, in countries without integrated telemedicine within their national health delivery system, the pandemic results in a call to adopt and adapt the necessary changes that support a widespread adoption of telemedicine [6,11 ] . Telemedicine is expected to provide timely care and minimize exposure to protect physicians and patients [5,23].…”