Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Sep-Oct;14(5):797-799.
doi: 10.1016/j.dsx.2020.06.007. Epub 2020 Jun 9.

Pitfalls in telemedicine consultations in the era of COVID 19 and how to avoid them

Karthikeyan Iyengar  1 , Vijay K Jain  2 , Raju Vaishya  3
Affiliations
Review

Pitfalls in telemedicine consultations in the era of COVID 19 and how to avoid them

Karthikeyan Iyengar et al. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Background and aims: With restrictions on face to face clinical consultations in the COVID-19 pandemic, Telemedicine has become an essential tool in providing continuity of care to patients. We explore the common pitfalls in remote consultations and strategies that can be adopted to avoid them.

Methods: We have done a comprehensive review of the literature using suitable keywords on the search engines of PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar and Research Gate in the first week of May 2020 including 'COVID-19', 'telemedicine' and 'remote consultations'.

Results: Telemedicine has become an integral part to support patient's clinical care in the current COVID-19 pandemic now and will be in the future for both primary and secondary care. Common pitfalls can be identified and steps can be taken to prevent them.

Conclusion: Telemedicine it is going to play a key role in future of health medicine, however, telemedicine technology should be applied in appropriate settings and situations. Suitable training, enhanced documentations, communication and observing information governance guidelines will go a long way in avoiding pitfalls associated with remote consultations.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Pandemics; Remote consultation; Telemedicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Comment in

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
    1. World Health Organization Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public. 2020. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-f...
    1. van Galen L.S., Car J. Telephone consultations. BMJ. 2018;360 k1047. - PubMed
    1. Greenhalgh T., Wherton J., Shaw S. Video consultations for covid-19. BMJ. 2020;368 m998. - PubMed
    1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India Telemedicine practice guidelines. https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/Telemedicine.pdf

MeSH terms