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. 2021 Feb;190(1):39-40.
doi: 10.1007/s11845-020-02269-5. Epub 2020 May 28.

Virtualised care and COVID-19

M F O' Reilly  1 , K Merghani  2   3 , E Sheehan  2   3
Affiliations

Virtualised care and COVID-19

M F O' Reilly et al. Ir J Med Sci. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Following the declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of the Covid-19 pandemic on March 11, 2020, health organisations and staff have had to adapt and restructure services in order to respond to this global health emergency. Numerous containment strategies have been, and continue to be, introduced in this rapidly evolving and fluid situation with a significant shift towards virtual or remote patient assessment. The concept of virtual patient evaluation has previously been adopted across a range of medical and surgical specialities yielding safe and efficient pathways associated with good Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and patient satisfaction rates. Whilst the idea of virtual patient review may be perceived as counterintuitive to the basic foundations and principles of face-to-face clinical practice, the current global pandemic, now more than ever, highlights the importance, need and benefits of this care model.

Keywords: Covid-19; Remote assessment; Virtualised care.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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