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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ann Natl Acad Med Sci 2022; 58(03): 164-167
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1757741
Original Article

Use of Telemedicine in Evaluation of Pediatric Surgical Patients in COVID-19 Time

Rahul Kumar Rai
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Anand Pandey 
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Archika Gupta
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Gurmeet Singh
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Jiledar Rawat
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Abstract

Objective The word “telemedicine” literally translates to “healing at a distance.” In the current scenario of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and shut outpatient department, the patients are facing difficulty in consultation. This article evaluated the use of telemedicine in the management of pediatric surgical patients.

Materials and Methods In this observational cohort study, from April 2020 to August 2020, all patients who took advice on phone/WhatsApp were assessed for addressing their complaints. The data was collected and analyzed.

Result A total of 307 patients were provided consultation via telecommunication. The male to female ratio was 2.3:1. Fifty-six (18.2%) patients called on an emergency basis, while the remaining 251 (81.8%) patients called for nonemergency or routine problems. Of these, attendants of 25 (8.14%) patients were not able to state the situation adequately. They were called to the department. Of these, 11 (3.5% of total) patients were admitted. One-hundred and eighty-three (59.6%) patients were in the department's follow-up, while the remaining 124 (40.4%) were new patients. The attendants of 296 (96.4%) patients were satisfied by using this modality of consultation.

Conclusion In the current scenario, telecommunication may help us to avoid unnecessary travel to the hospital. It may be helpful to deal with minor clinical complaints and evaluating for an emergency.

Keywords

COVID-19 - telemedicine - pediatric surgery - teleconsultation

Author Contributions

R.K.R. and A.P. conceptualized the idea; A.P., A.G., and G.S. conducted the literature review; A.P., R.K.R., and G.S. wrote the first draft of the manuscript; J.D.R. conducted the critical review of the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final draft of the manuscript.


Ethical Approval

The data of the present study were collected in the course of common clinical practice, and accordingly, the signed informed consent was obtained from each patient for any surgical and clinical procedure. The study protocol was in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. Because it was a retrospective study, formal consent for this study was not required, and no approval of the institutional research committee was needed.




Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
09. Dezember 2022

© 2022. National Academy of Medical Sciences (India). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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