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. 2021 Jun 28;9(7):815.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare9070815.

Telemedicine in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from the First Survey among Italian Pediatric Diabetes Centers

Gianluca Tornese  1 , Riccardo Schiaffini  2 , Enza Mozzillo  3 , Roberto Franceschi  4 , Anna Paola Frongia  5 , Andrea Scaramuzza  6 , On Behalf Of Hcl Expert Pathway Pediatric Group, The Diabetes Study Group Of The Italian Society For Pediatric Endocrinology
Affiliations

Telemedicine in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from the First Survey among Italian Pediatric Diabetes Centers

Gianluca Tornese et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Use of telemedicine for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was investigated.

Method: 68 Italian pediatric diabetes centers were invited to complete a survey about telemedicine usage in their pediatric patients, allocated to the no-tech group (multiple daily injections and self-monitoring blood glucose) and the tech group (insulin pump and/or flash- or continuous-glucose monitoring).

Results: 60.3% of the centers completed the survey. In both the no-tech and tech groups, the most used ways of communication were generic download portals, instant messaging with personal physicians' mobiles, working emails, and phone calls to physicians' mobiles, with no difference, except for the use of email being higher in the no-tech group (p = 0.03). Seventy-four percent of the centers did not have any systematization and/or reimbursement, with significant differences among regions (p = 0.03).

Conclusions: Almost all Italian pediatric diabetes centers use telemedicine in a semi-volunteering manner, lacking proper codification, reimbursement system, legal traceability, and accreditation system.

Keywords: continuous glucose monitoring; continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion; insulin pump; pediatric diabetes; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflict of interest to disclose exist for any of the authors. All authors and members of the HCL group received travel expenses from Medtronic for the meetings.

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