COVID-19 is shaking up the traditional ways in which society uses healthcare. The pandemic has sped up the adoption of digital health tools for the early screening of symptoms, tracing of contact cases, health prevention education, mental health, wellbeing support and remote consultations with and monitoring by healthcare professionals. In particular, the crisis has made telehealth solutions essential tools to provide immediate care, leading countries to set up new financial regulations and insurance funds to propose innovative health plans. A team of researchers comprising Associate Professor Josip Car of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Professor Gerald Koh of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Professor Trisha Greenhalgh of the University of Oxford collaborated to develop clinical guidelines for COVID-19 remote consultations. The researchers came up with helpful advice on how to choose between telephone and video appointments, how to conduct a “query covid” consultation remotely, and proposed how to ask for a follow-up.
Reference: BMJ 2020, 25 mars 2020
