ABSTRACT
Introduction: Telemedicine has already been used for the patients with respiratory diseases especially at follow up of long term mechanically ventilated patients and tele-pulmonary rehabilitation. Aim(s): To assess the efficacy of telemedicine consultation system in the management of COVID-19 suspected patients at hospital admission. Method(s): To reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 contamination among health-care workers, the COVID-19 pandemic control committee of our centre established a tele-medicine consultation group including pulmonologists, radiologists, emergency medicine and infectious disease specialists. Suspected COVID-19 patients were examined in the pandemic outpatient clinic or emergency department at their first admission by a physician. The physician consulted to the tele-consultation group with a structured medical story and test results after the first examination. Result(s): 469 patients were evaluated through teleconsultation, of 58.2 % were pre-diagnosed with COVID-19. SARS-COV-2 PCR resulted positive in 76.3 % of 273 patients with COVID-19 pre-diagnosis. 288 patients were hospitalized, and 0.9 % of discharged patients were re-admitted to the hospital due to deterioration. Main diagnoses were as follows: COVID-19 (n:289, 62 %), Cardiogenic pulmonary edema (n:40, 8.6 %), non-COVID-19 pneumonia (n:44, 9.4 %), COPD exacerbation (n:8, 1.7 %). Consistency rates between pre- and main diagnosis were 87,2 % for COVID-19 and 63,5 % for non-COVID-19 diseases. Discussion(s): The teleconsultation could be considered an effective method for the management of COVID-19 during the admission to hospital with a reduced risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among health-care workers.