Epidemiology of 30,000 Pediatric Urgent Care Telemedicine Visits in the Era of COVID-19.
Telemed J E Health
; 28(10): 1404-1411, 2022 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2062834
ABSTRACT
Background:
To describe the epidemiology of patients accessing a pediatric urgent care telemedicine platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. StudyDesign:
We conducted a cross-sectional study of the first 30,000 pediatric patients who accessed our pediatric urgent care telemedicine platform during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study population came from 15 states and included the dates May 15 through September 16, 2020. We also described the groups of patients referred for in-person evaluation in urgent care or emergency department (ED) settings.Results:
Mean patient age was 7.6 ± 5.4 years and 51% of patients were male. Twenty-one percent were publicly insured. More than 60% of patients sought care between 12 and 7 p.m. The most common reasons for seeking care were concerns for COVID-19 (50.5%) and fever (6.8%). Antibiotics were prescribed in 4.3% of visits. Children had an in-person visit to our urgent care offices on the same day in 9% of visits. Less than 1% of children were referred to the ED.Conclusions:
In this large series of telemedicine visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer than 10% required escalation to an in-person office visit and fewer than 1% required escalation to an ED.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Telemedicine
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Telemed J E Health
Journal subject:
Medical Informatics
/
Health Services
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Tmj.2021.0482
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