Telemedicine and current clinical practice trends in the COVID-19 pandemic

Sayed E Wahezi¹, Lynn R Kohan², Boris Spektor³, Scott Brancolini⁴, Trent Emerick⁵, Jean M Fronterhouse⁶, Markus M Luedi⁷, Marc A Colon⁸, Paul M Kitei⁹, Magdalena Anitescu¹⁰, Nicholas E Goeders¹¹, Shilpavedi Patil¹², Harish Siddaiah¹³, Elyse M Cornett¹⁴, Richard D Urman¹⁵, Alan D Kaye¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Orthopedic Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, 1250 Waters Place, Bronx NY 10461, USA. Electronic address: swahezi@montefiore.org.
² Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia, 545 Ray C Hunt Dr. Suite 3168, Charlottesville, VA, 22908, USA. Electronic address: Lrk9g@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Road NE, 5th Floor Tower, T5L38, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Electronic address: bspekto@emory.edu.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 200 Delafield Road Medical Arts Building 200, Suite 2070, Pittsburgh, PA 15215, USA. Electronic address: brancolinisa@upmc.edu.
⁵ Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Division of Chronic Pain, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Falk Medical Building - 6th floor, 3601 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: emericktd@upmc.edu.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: jfront@lsuhsc.edu.
⁷ Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, Inselspital, Universitatsspital Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: markus.luedi2@insel.ch.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: mcolon@lsuhsc.edu.
⁹ Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Rothman Orthopaedic Institute and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, 925 Chestnut Street, 5th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. Electronic address: paul.kitei@rothmanortho.com.
¹⁰ Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Chicago, 5841 S Maryland Ave, MC 4028, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: manitescu@dacc.uchicago.edu.
¹¹ Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology & Neuroscience, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: ngoede@lsuhsc.edu.
¹² Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: spati1@lsuhsc.edu.
¹³ Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: hbanga@lsuhsc.edu.
¹⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: ecorne@lsuhsc.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: rurman@bwh.harvard.edu.
¹⁶ Academic Affairs, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: akaye@lsuhsc.edu.

PMID: 34511221
PMCID: PMC7667401
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpa.2020.11.005

Review

Telemedicine and current clinical practice trends in the COVID-19 pandemic

Sayed E Wahezi et al. Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol. 2021 Oct.

. 2021 Oct;35(3):307-319.

doi: 10.1016/j.bpa.2020.11.005. Epub 2020 Nov 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Orthopedic Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, 1250 Waters Place, Bronx NY 10461, USA. Electronic address: swahezi@montefiore.org.
² Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia, 545 Ray C Hunt Dr. Suite 3168, Charlottesville, VA, 22908, USA. Electronic address: Lrk9g@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Road NE, 5th Floor Tower, T5L38, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Electronic address: bspekto@emory.edu.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 200 Delafield Road Medical Arts Building 200, Suite 2070, Pittsburgh, PA 15215, USA. Electronic address: brancolinisa@upmc.edu.
⁵ Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Division of Chronic Pain, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Falk Medical Building - 6th floor, 3601 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: emericktd@upmc.edu.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: jfront@lsuhsc.edu.
⁷ Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, Inselspital, Universitatsspital Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: markus.luedi2@insel.ch.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: mcolon@lsuhsc.edu.
⁹ Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Rothman Orthopaedic Institute and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, 925 Chestnut Street, 5th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. Electronic address: paul.kitei@rothmanortho.com.
¹⁰ Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Chicago, 5841 S Maryland Ave, MC 4028, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: manitescu@dacc.uchicago.edu.
¹¹ Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology & Neuroscience, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: ngoede@lsuhsc.edu.
¹² Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: spati1@lsuhsc.edu.
¹³ Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: hbanga@lsuhsc.edu.
¹⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: ecorne@lsuhsc.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: rurman@bwh.harvard.edu.
¹⁶ Academic Affairs, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: akaye@lsuhsc.edu.

PMID: 34511221
PMCID: PMC7667401
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpa.2020.11.005

Abstract

Telemedicine is the medical practice of caring for and treating patients remotely. With the spread of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, telemedicine has become increasingly prevalent. Although telemedicine was already in practice before the 2020 pandemic, the internet, smartphones, computers, and video-conferencing tools have made telemedicine easily accessible and available to almost everyone. However, there are also new challenges that health care providers may not be prepared for, including treating and diagnosing patients without physical contact. Physician adoption also depends upon reimbursement and education to improve the telemedicine visits. We review current trends involving telemedicine, how pandemics such as COVID-19 affect the remote treatment of patients, and key concepts important to healthcare providers who practice telemedicine.

Keywords: COVID; ambulatory pain centers; coronavirus; telehealth; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest There are no relevant conflicts of interest. However, Richard D. Urman received unrelated funding from Merck, Medtronic, and AcelRx and fees from Heron, Acacia, Pfizer, and Takeda.

References

1. Medicare telemedicine health care provider fact sheet | CMS. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/medicare-telemedicine-health-ca... n.d.
1. Gogia S. Academic Press; 2019. Fundamentals of telemedicine and telehealth.
1. Two welcome changes for audio-only telephone visits -- FPM. https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/telephone_visit... n.d.
1. Mcgeary D.D., Mcgeary C.A., Gatchel R.J. A comprehensive review of telehealth for pain management: where we are and the way ahead. Pain Pract. 2012;12:570–577. doi: 10.1111/j.1533-2500.2012.00534.x. - DOI - PubMed
1. Ball S., Wilson B., Ober S., et al. SCAN-ECHO for pain management: implementing a regional telementoring training for primary care providers. Pain Med (United States) 2018;19:262–268. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnx122. - DOI - PubMed

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Telemedicine and current clinical practice trends in the COVID-19 pandemic

Affiliations

Telemedicine and current clinical practice trends in the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

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