Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology 9 (2021) 122-126

doi: 10.17265/2328-2150/2021.03.005
D DAVID PUBLISHING

Role of Telemedicine and Mobile Health in Management

Covid-19 Pandemic

Sohrabei Solmaz
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Department of Medical Informatics, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Background: Digital health similar Telemedicine and Mobile Health interventions are globally playing a significant role
to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is an infectious disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
coronavirus19. Here, we present a very brief overview of the multifaceted digital interventions, globally, and in India, for
maintaining health and health-care delivery, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: This review was conducted through
searching four databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct. Inclusion criteria included studies clearly
defining any use of telehealth (Telemedicine and Mobile Health) services in all aspects of health care during COVID-19 outbreak.
Results: 111 research studies published from 2019 to May 2020 were employed to provide theoretical and practical evidence on the
significance of using telemedicine and mobile health for remote treatment of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also checked
the effects for identify the role of telehealth services in preventing, diagnosing, treating, and controlling diseases during COVID-19
outbreak, result showed used Telemedicine and Mobile Health effective outcome in the prevention and emergency treatment of other
patients. Discussion: Major technologies identified included telemedicine and mobile care (for COVID-19 as well as routine care),
for monitoring. Telehealth can become a basic need for the general population, health care providers, and patients with COVID-19,
especially when people are in quarantine, enabling patients in real time through contact with health care provider for advice on their
health problems. Conclusions: The use of telehealth improves the provision of health services. Therefore, telehealth should be an
important tool in caring services while keeping patients and health providers safe during COVID-19 outbreak and reduces the use of
resources in health centers, improves access to care, while minimizing the risk of direct transmission of the infectious agent from
person to person.

Key words: Telehealth, digital management of pandemic, IT/ICT applications for coronavirus disease.

1. Introduction the necessary applications of telemedicine is to follow

up patients when a hospital discharge [3, 4], which
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a
might be used for patients with COVID-19, as well.
severe acute respiratory infection caused by a type of
Accordingly, it will scale back the contact between
coronavirus that first originated in Wuhan, China in
patients and physicians and additionally result in
December 2019 and quickly has spread all over the
inflated population surveillance [5, 6]. Additionally,
world causing the COVID-19 pandemic [1, 2]. Given
one of the potentials of telemedicine is to useful
the high risk of transmission of the illness through
resource in triage and kind out human beings at risk of
person-to-person contact, telemedicine will be helpful
COVID-19 earlier than being cited hospitals [7].
in controlling the COVID-19 by reducing direct
Using the long-distance telecall smartphone name and
contact in addition Physical contact with
counseling may be useful in remotely travelling the
COVID-19–infected patients significantly increases
prone cases, disinfecting public locations and limiting
the chance of illness transmission and the need to
needless trips Patients with COVID-19 who‟ve get
quarantine exposed healthcare workers. One among
right of entry to, to their necessary fitness offerings
and extra sufferers may be visited through doctors [8].
Corresponding author: Sohrabi Solmaz, MS, research One of the groups of people most severely affected by
fields: medical informatics, telemedecin and mobile health,
data analysis. the outbreak of COVID-19 is patients with chronic
 Role of Telemedicine and Mobile Health in Management Covid-19 Pandemic
diseases and comorbidities [9]. In these cases, regular
referrals to the hospital should be avoided through
telemedical services, e.g. one of the groups most
affected by the COVID-19 outbreak is patients with
chronic diseases and comorbidities [9]. In those cases,
normal referrals to the health facility thru telemedicine
offerings consisting of tv and teleconsultation have to
be avoided. Physicists and different fitness care
companies at health facility Due to direct touch with
sufferers, there may be a better threat of COVID-19.
Doctors can remotely access sufferers with COVID-19
thru telemedicine [10] to get entry to affected person
statistics, e.g. as laboratory take a look at results, chest
x-ray, tele medically manipulate and CT findings and
provide healing measures to nurses and different
fitness care companies primarily based totally on
those results. The teleconsultation gadget may be used
to deliver affected person statistics such as fever,
cough and different critical signs and symptoms via
isolation and Capture and report quarantine [11]. To
have a whole database and make sure higher
surveillance of society. However, complete measures
ought to be taken to deal with COVID-19, taking into
consideration all feasible elements that have an effect
on one-of-a-kind elements of the fitness system.
Accordingly, telemedicine may be used as one of the
effective strategies. This have a look at in brief
addressed the wishes of telemedicine, including
following up and tracking sufferers after discharge,
touring vulnerable cases, being concerned for
sufferers with continual ailments and different
comorbidities, protective medical doctors and
different fitness care providers, and information series
through quarantine and isolation periods. The use of
telemedicine technology offers numerous advantages,
mainly in non-emergency/recurring care and in cases
in which there may be no want for direct patient-issuer
interaction, e.g. in the provision of mental services
[12]. Remote care reduces using assets in fitness care
centers, improves get entry to care and on the equal
time minimizes the hazard of direct transmission of
123
the infectious agent from person to person [13].
Another important benefit is not only the safety of
people, including the general public, patients and
health workers, but also the provision of wide access
to caregivers [14]. Therefore, this technology is an
attractive, effective and affordable option [10, 14].
Patients are eager to use telemedicine, but barriers still
exist. The barriers the implementation of these
programs also depends largely on accreditation,
payment systems and insurance [11, 14]. Additionally,
a few physicians are worried approximately technical
and clinical quality, safety, privacy, and accountability
[15]. Telehealth can emerge as a fundamental want for
the overall population, healthcare providers, and
sufferers with COVID-19, specifically whilst human
beings are in quarantine in order that sufferers may be
suggested in actual time with the aid of using
contacting the healthcare provider, the goal of this
evaluate become consequently to discover and
systematically evaluate the function of telehealth
offerings within side the prevention, diagnosis,
treatment and manipulate of illnesses at some stage in
the COVID-19 outbreak [16-18].
2. Methods
A literature review was performed for articles
related to telemedicine. We used PubMed, Google
Scholar, Cochrane Library and Ovid MEDLINE to
search published articles between the years 1990 and
2020. Searches through the references of retrieved
articles were also performed. In addition, we reviewed
the web pages of various professional organizations
including the American Telemedicine Association and
the CMS for information and data relative to the topic
of interest. We used the following keywords:
„telemedicine‟, „telehealth‟, „COVID-19‟, „policy‟,
„regulation‟, „future‟, „rural‟, „physical examination‟.
Inclusion criteria included studies clearly defining any
use of telehealth (Telemedicine and Mobile Health)
services in all aspects of health care during COVID-19
outbreak.
124 Role of Telemedicine and Mobile Health in Management Covid-19 Pandemic
3. Results
111 research studies published from 1990 to May
2020 were employed to provide theoretical and
practical evidence on the significance of using
telemedicine and mobile health for remote treatment
of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also
checked the effects for identify the role of telehealth
services in preventing, diagnosing, treating, and
controlling diseases during COVID-19 outbreak,
result showed used Telemedicine and Mobile Health
effective outcome in the prevention and emergency
treatment of other patients.
4. Discussion
Public health crisis, such as COVID-19, severely
challenges the health systems [19, 20]. Social
influence is the extent in which an individual
perceives that important others around him/her to
adopt technology [21]. In telemedicine application
setting social influence is the degree wherein an
individual believes that important others
recommendations to adopt telemedicine application
for health care services [22-24]. A recent study
conducted by Kaium et al [25] had showed that social
affect extensively effects on consumer conduct to
maintain use of cellular fitness applications. Social
affect additionally displays to a fashion that is
generated through knowledgeable and a success
human whilst sharing reports and enjoyment [26]. It is
located that those 4 elements considerably have an
impact on person conduct to adoption generation. The
first aspect of unified concept of recognition and use
of generation is overall performance expectancy and
defined because the diploma wherein person accept as
true with that use of telemedicine software will boom
his/her task overall performance [26]. In the context of
telemedicine services, author like Hoque and Sorwar
[27] had investigated vintage age human beings
conduct closer to adoption of telemedicine programs
and found out that overall performance expectancy
drastically has an effect on vintage age person conduct
to undertake cellular fitness services. The utilizations
of telemedicine have had positive impacts in the
public health emergency beyond facilitating triage,
including allowing the rapid deployment of large
numbers of healthcare providers and the providing of
services when local hospitals and healthcare centers
are unable to meet demand. Telemedicine has been a
means of providing healthcare information not only to
infected people but also to non-infected people during
this infectious pandemic [8]. Discussion round the use
of telemedicine for continual situation control has
additionally grown, and research have proven
comparable effects for a few situations with
telemedicine use, such as diabetes and congestive
coronary heart failure [28]. The increased usage has
recommended dialogue round the mixing of
telemedicine into accreditation for healthcare
providers, investment for telemedicine and remodeling
medical care fashions amongst different things. The
achievement of telemedicine as a method of imparting
exquisite healthcare has been well documented in
latest studies. In the context of number one care,
Powell et al [29] interviewed sufferers following
telemedicine visits with their number one care vendors
and determined that all sufferers interviewed
determined telemedicine visits to be quality for their
number one care needs, and further, a majority said
that they might select to use telemedicine instead of
in-man or woman visits within side the future. A
examine measuring the feasibility of the usage of
smartphones for surgical wound follow-up post
appendectomy determined that the sensitivity and
specificity for detecting surgical wound headaches
became 100% and 91.67%, respectively, the usage of
electronic mail imaging and affected person
questionnaires [30]. Furthermore, a study using text
messaging as a means of follow-up after colorectal
surgery found that throughout the study, no
postoperative complication was unrecognized, and
even suggested that follow-up questionnaires
 Role of Telemedicine and Mobile Health in Management Covid-19 Pandemic
regarding symptomatology via text messaging could
potentially replace the traditional postoperative
follow-up visit [31]. Lastly, applications of
telemedicine such as Tele-stroke services to provide
stroke expertise to hospitals lacking experts in stroke
care have been extremely successful and continue to
grow in the USA [32].
5. Conclusions
Over the beyond numerous decades, we‟ve been hit
with several pandemics, together with H1N1, Ebola,
SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and currently, COVID-19.
In the destiny, it‟s far in all likelihood that extra novel
pandemics will arise. Prior to the modern pandemic,
troubles with law and repayment have averted
telemedicine from being absolutely immersed into the
healthcare panorama within side the USA. The
improvement and usage of telemedicine offerings is
crucial, as those offerings permit us to maintain to
offer fantastic healthcare whilst preserving the
exercise of bodily distancing to save you the unfold of
those viruses. The advantages of telemedicine
encompass convenience, extended get entry to care
from a distance, in particular for patients dwelling in
rural areas, and reduced healthcare costs. Studies have
proven that telemedicine appointments may be
identical to in-affected person visits in a range of
specialties. Amid the rapidly evolving COVID-19
environment, mHealth apps have been playing an
important role in mitigating the COVID-19 response,
but to date, there has not been any overview and
comparisons of the mHealth apps that have been
developed to combat this pandemic. The aim of this
review is to scope the evidence base for articles that
described apps that were developed in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic [33]. Continued studies ought to
be executed to enhance components of the bodily
exam for telemedicine visits, in particular for
specialties in which intimate affected person touch is a
crucial thing of the bodily exam. Now is the time for
us to put in force those offerings and make the
125
utilization of telemedicine mainstream. If we do this,
we can be organized for the next pandemic and the
destiny of healthcare.
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