Editor
Telemedicine is the delivery of health care services using information or communication technology1. It can be classified according to the means of communication (Audio, visual), timing of information transmission (Real time Vs asynchronous), purpose of consult, and the involved healthcare provider1.
It was the beginning of this year when the COVID-19 started disrupting the global health, where cancellation of surgical services has emerged as one of the results2. Many services were re-structured to compensate for the staff shortage, from being shifted to COVID-19 facilities or catching the disease2. We have read the experience of Low et al in re-structuring the surgical services in Singapore and we acknowledge their experience4 In Hamad Medical Corporation it was the appropriate time for to find the means to apply preventive measures in practical daily life work when providing healthcare to patients. Hence, the idea of utilizing telemedicine in the post-operative care of acute care surgery patients was adopted in the out-patient clinic. The post-operative patients are listed and approached through phone in a scheduled pattern. Some patients are asked to walk in to the clinic according to their pre-assessed surgical need.
The use of telemedicine to follow patient progress remotely after surgery is a new experience in Hamad Medical Corporation. The initial results are encouraging in the form of patient and doctor's satisfaction, saved time and money, and more importantly patient safety monitored by the emergency department visits and readmission rates. However, this needs to be scientifically evaluated. Moreover, its value in decreasing the spread of COVID-19 amongst healthcare staff and the community cross infection needs to be evaluated.
Conflict of interest
None declared by the authors relevant to this article.
Funding information
No funding sought for the writing or publication of this paper.
Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the editor and the editorial team members for their prompt review of the letter.
References
- 1. Mahajan V, Singh T, Azad C. Using Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Indian Pediatr 2020; 57: 652–657. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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