WhatsApp Tele-Medicine – usage patterns and physicians views on the platform

Barayev, Edward; Shental, Omri; Yaari, Dotan; Zloczower, Elchanan; Shemesh, Itai; Shapiro, Michael; Glassberg, Elon; Magnezi, Racheli

doi:10.1186/s13584-021-00468-8

Cited by 29 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Most previous studies of telemedicine consultations involved patients who were more educated and familiar with the use of internet than those in our sample [ 6 , 8 , 23 , 34 , 43 ]. Therefore, we chose to use WhatsApp as a communication technology tool because they would find it easier to use than other platforms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feasibility indicators of telemedicine for patients with dementia in a public hospital in Northeast Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2022

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Background The use of telemedicine has become a fundamental tool in healthcare in recent years, especially at times of Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, there are several telemedicine tools that are simple, inexpensive, and effective means of communication. This article aims to describe indicators of feasibility including patient recruitment, attendance, discomfort (internet connection issues and/or noncompliant patient behavior), satisfaction, and travel time and cost savings of virtual telemedicine consultations for patients with dementia. Methods The study was conducted at the Geriatrics Department of Hospital Universitário Walter Cantídio (HUWC) in Fortaleza, Brazil, between May 1st and December 31, 2020. The eligibility criteria included previous diagnosis of dementia syndrome and receiving care at the hospital’s dementia outpatient clinic in face-to-face consultations in the preceding 12 months. Patients were excluded if they did not feel comfortable with virtual consultations, did not have the required communication technology available or their caregiver was not available to attend the remote consultation. The patients were recruited from the outpatient dementia clinic’s medical appointment scheduling list. The intervention was designed as a one-time consultation and it included treatment approaches and health promotion recommendations. Results Patient recruitment, attendance and discomfort rates were 85.5%, 97.7% and 9.4%, respectively. To attend face-to-face visits, they reported an average travel time (including the consultation) of 233.21 minutes and average total cost of 60.61 reais (around USD 11). The study intervention was well accepted among the patients and their caregivers with 97.6% being satisfied. Many were happy to avoid long waits in crowded medical waiting rooms and the risk of covid-19 contagion. Conclusions We found good recruitment, attendance, and acceptance rates of remote care for the follow-up of dementia patients as well as low discomfort rates. Trial registration Brazilian Trial Registry (REBEC) RBR-9xs978.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of telemedicine has become a fundamental tool in healthcare in recent years, especially at times of Covid-19 pandemic [ 6 ]. Currently, there are several telemedicine tools that are simple, inexpensive, and effective means of communication [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility indicators of telemedicine for patients with dementia in a public hospital in Northeast Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2022

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“…Elective procedures were rescheduled, the length of hospital stay was shortened, patients were advised to defer medical care only in case of severe symptoms or uncontrolled situations, and only severe cases resulted in hospital admission. 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 This policy was standard in the early phases of the pandemic. In a cardiology department's daily life, this policy resulted in postponing annual pacemaker's interrogation, delaying invasive and non-invasive tests such as coronary angiography, cardiac CT, stress echocardiogram, and myocardial perfusion stress for patients with stable angina.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Profile trends of non-COVID patients admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit during the 2020 COVID pandemic

Koren

Shachar

Shahar

et al. 2022

The American Journal of the Medical Sciences

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“…The general lockdown coupled with patient anxiety about clinic visits has forced family physicians to adopt telemedicine and distance communication with patients instead of in-person encounters. A recent study conducted among primary care physicians in Israel indicated that daily use of WhatsApp in professional practice reduced the need for in-person counseling (11).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities and Challenges in Delivering Remote Primary Care During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Shani

Boaz

Lahad

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background: Social distancing and lockdowns were implemented during the first period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary care physicians needed to adapt quickly to deliver remote care/telemedicine. Methods: A cross-sectional, 47-item online Google Survey was distributed through the Israel Association of Family Physicians (IAFP) mailing list between March 31-May 5, 2020. The questionnaire included demographics, physician characteristics, and information on usage and perceived telemedicine quality. Sampling weights by sex and age groups were applied.Results: 159 primary care physicians (10.6% of registered IAFP members; 63.5% women; mean age 53.4±10.4 years and median professional experience 21.3 years) replied to the survey. The majority (59.7%) of the participants performed a mixture of in-person along with phone counseling. About 40% had no former telemedicine experience. The majority indicated that telephone and video formats were inferior to in-person consultation (68%, 57.1% online and phone, respectively). The overall counseling quality grade (on a 1–10 scale, )median (IQR)) was 6.2 (3) for telephone and 7(2) for video. While 66.9% reported experiencing no challenges, 10% had technical problems, 10% interpersonal problems, 5.6% scheduling difficulties, and 7.5% other difficulties. Majority of 56.6% physicians indicated they prescribed more antibiotics,16.4% sent more blood tests, 24.5% referred more to experts, and 49.7% referred more to imaging in comparison to usual counseling. Higher phone quality score was significantly associated with physicians who indicated not prescribing more antibiotics during the pandemic (OR=0.30, 95%CI 0.134-0.688, p=0.004).Higher online quality score was associated with physicians who indicated not sending more blood tests during the pandemic (OR=0.06 95%CI 0.008-0.378, P=0.003).Conclusions: Our findings suggest telehealth holds considerable promise for counseling in the primary care setting. However, interpersonal challenges raised by physicians should be understood in-depth to develop tailored training and further examine it in randomized trials while integrating patient-reported outcomes. Finally, further research on utility, cost, and cost-efficiency during remote counseling with follow-ups, medical prescribing, and additional referrals is needed.

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WhatsApp Tele-Medicine – usage patterns and physicians views on the platform

Cited by 29 publications

References 27 publications

Feasibility indicators of telemedicine for patients with dementia in a public hospital in Northeast Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic

Feasibility indicators of telemedicine for patients with dementia in a public hospital in Northeast Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic

Profile trends of non-COVID patients admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit during the 2020 COVID pandemic

Opportunities and Challenges in Delivering Remote Primary Care During the Coronavirus Outbreak

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