Back to Search Start Over

Telemedicine facilitates medical care for hospitalized patients in quarantine.

Telemedicine facilitates medical care for hospitalized patients in quarantine.

Authors :
Su TH
Lu YC
Li JW
Liu WD
Lee MS
Hung CS
Chou CF
Wang JT
Ho YL
Kao JH
Source :
Journal of the Formosan Medical Association = Taiwan yi zhi [J Formos Med Assoc] 2024 Dec 16. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Dec 16.
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
Ahead of Print

Abstract

Background/purpose: Telemedicine is an innovative medical care system that facilitates visual communication between patients and healthcare workers (HCWs), mainly in a community-based setting. We investigated the clinical effectiveness of in-patient telemedicine care for patients in quarantine for the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).<br />Methods: We conducted a prospective study to include patients with mild-to-moderate severity of COVID-19 and their primary-care HCWs. Patients were stratified into the "telemedicine" group and the "standard-care" group. The telemedicine group received additional telemedicine communications and wearable devices for vital signs monitoring during hospitalization. The primary endpoint was the usability of the telemedicine system assessed by the modified telehealth usability questionnaire (TUQ) on a 7-point ordinal Likert scale. The secondary endpoints were the outcomes of COVID-19.<br />Results: Overall, we included 30 and 48 patients in the respective standard-care group and telemedicine group. In addition, 31 primary care residents and 56 nurses were included in the HCW groups. For all participants, the modified TUQ responses in the categories of usefulness (6.2), ease of use (6.1), effectiveness (6.0), and satisfaction (6.1) were significantly greater than 5 (somewhat agree), except for the reliability sectors (5.3). The telemedicine group liked the telemedicine system significantly more than the HCWs. The doctors scored significantly higher than the nurses in the categories of effectiveness and satisfaction of the telemedicine systems. The outcomes of COVID-19 were comparable between the telemedicine and the standard-care group.<br />Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the clinical effectiveness and satisfaction of the telemedicine for the care of quarantined COVID-19 patients during hospitalization.<br />Competing Interests: Declaration of interest T.-H. S. received a research grant from Gilead Sciences, served as a consultant for Gilead Sciences, and was on speaker's bureaus for Abbvie, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Lilly, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Roche, Sysmex and Takeda. J.-H. K. has served as a consultant for Abbvie, Gilead Sciences, Merck Sharp and Dohme, and Roche and on speaker's bureaus for Abbvie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Merck Sharp and Dohme.<br /> (Copyright © 2024 Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0929-6646
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Journal of the Formosan Medical Association = Taiwan yi zhi
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
39690047
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfma.2024.12.016