ABSTRACT
Access to quality healthcare service is a challenge for many patients, especially in situations which impose movement restrictions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it has the disadvantage of lacking a physical consultation, high accessibility makes telemedicine alongside teleconsultation preferred in numerous situations, contributing to high treatment adherence in patients. An important pathology addressed through telemedicine is diabetes mellitus, due to its possible commorbidities and negative impact. This study consisted of the analysis of the electronic files of 260 patients, between April and December 2020. A high adherence in prescription days covered was observed (89.91%). The increase of teleconsultations which was maintained even after the ease of lockdown measured suggested a good adherence to this method. Teleconsultation is an efficient method, with future prospects for providing healthcare. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Accesul la servicii de sănătate de calitate reprezintă o provocare pentru numeroși pacienți, în special în situații care impun limitarea deplasării, precum pandemia de COVID-19. Deși prezintă dezavantajul lipsei unui consult fizic, gradul ridicat de accesibilitate face ca telemedicina împreună cu teleconsultul să fie de preferat în numeroase situații, contribuind la aderența crescută la tratament a pacienților. Un loc important în rândul patologiilor abordate prin telemedicină îl deține diabetul zaharat, având în vedere posibilele comorbidități, precum și impactul negativ. Acest studiu a presupus analizarea fișelor electronice ale unui eșantion de 260 de pacienți, din perioada aprilie-decembrie 2020. S-a constatat o aderență bună la ridicarea rețetei (89,91%). Creșterea numărului de vizite prin teleconsult, care s-a menținut și după relaxarea măsurilor restrictive, a sugerat o aderență bună la această metodă. Teleconsultul este o metodă eficientă și cu perspective pentru furnizarea serviciilor de sănătate. (Romanian) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Farmacist.ro is the property of MEDICHUB MEDIA, S.R.L. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: New Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) telehealth item codes were added in 2020 to allow Australians to gain access to medical services during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Previous studies have been conducted on the utilisation of specific MBS item codes however none have been conducted on all medical practitioner telehealth item codes. OBJECTIVE: This retrospective epidemiological analysis aims to determine the utilisation rate of newly introduced medical practitioner telehealth MBS item codes and compare them with the usage of existing in-person item codes METHODS: The utilisation of 319 MBS item codes were extracted from the Medicare Statistics Database between March 2020 to March 2021. Using count and population statistics a population adjusted rate was generated and a linear regression analysis undertaken. RESULTS: A total of 199,059,309 in-person and telehealth services (Male, n=84,007,935;42.2%, Female, n=115,051,374;57.8%) were utilised during the study period. 147,697,104 were in-person compared to 51,191,898 telehealth services. In-person usage decreased by 27.5% while telehealth increased by 358.8%. In-person utilisation increased by 32.4% as the year continued while the telehealth utilisation decreased by 40.7%. There was a non-significant increase in total in-person item code utilisation (p=0.76) and a non-significant decrease (p=0.32) in the total telehealth item codes used CONCLUSION: There was initially increased usage of telehealth especially during lockdown restrictions. However, when lockdowns eased, usage of telehealth decreased while in-person increased. Regardless, telehealth item codes continued to be used despite changes to eligibility criteria and lockdown restrictions easing. Hence, it appears that patients are accepting of telehealth as a healthcare delivery method.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To describe how the ENT and Head and Neck departments of the HMM and HVC hospitals were managed during the COVID-19 state of alert and to analyse the results obtained to assess the usefulness of telephone consultations in our specialty. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From March 16, the ENT and Head and Neck departments of the HMM and HVC Hospitals began telephone consultations. Due to the disparity in the actions of the different department members, the decision was made to create a protocol to manage these consultations which started to be implemented March 23. RESULTS: During the study period, 1054 patients were attended in the consultations of both departments; 663 (62.9%) were first visits and 391 (37.10%) were successive visits. Twenty-one percent (229) of the consultations could be resolved by telephone, 10.82% (114) required face-to-face care, 57.40% (605) were indicated for an on-demand check-up depending on their disease course, and 10.05% (106) of the patients could not be reached by telephone. DISCUSSION: The state of alarm caused by COVID-19 has been a determining factor in how we undertake our care work. In the ENT and Head and Neck departments of the HMM and HVC Hospitals we decided to carry out consultations by telephone as an alternative to the traditional consultation. During this period, we have observed that up to 21.73% of the consultations could be dealt with by telephone. CONCLUSION: The telephone consultation seems to be a very useful tool to attend our patients avoiding the risk of COVID-19 infection during the state of alarm. Furthermore, according to the data analysed and the different studies, it seems a good alternative to the traditional consultation in selected patients.