The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Montelongo Flores, Alfredo
Data de Publicação: 2021
Outros Autores: Becker, Joao Luiz, Roman, Rudi, Oliveira, Elise Botteselle de, Umpierre, Roberto Nunes, Gonçalves, Marcelo Rodrigues, Silva, Rodolfo Souza da, Doniec, Katarzyna, Yetisen, Ali K.
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10183/237068
Resumo: In Dec 2020 Brazil became one of the worldwide epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 7.2M reported cases. Brazil has a large territory with unequal distribution of healthcare resources including physicians. Resource limitation has been one of the main factors hampering Brazil’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Telemedicine has been an effective approach for COVID-19 management as it allows to reduce the risk of cross-contamination and provides support to remote rural locations. Here we present the analyses of teleconsultations from a countrywide telemedicine service (Telessa´udeRS-UFRGS, TRS), that provides physician-to-physician remote support during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. We performed a descriptive analysis of the teleconsultation incoming calls and a text analysis from the call transcripts. Our findings indicate that TRS teleconsultations in Brazil experienced an exponential increment of 802.% during a period of 6 days, after the first death due to COVID-19 was reported. However, the number of teleconsultations cases decreased over time, despite the number of reported COVID-19 cases continuously increasing. The results also showed that physicians in low-income municipalities, based on GDP per capita, are less likely to consult the telemedicine service despite facing higher rates of COVID-19 cases. The text analysis of call transcripts from medical teleconsultations showed that the main concern of physicians were “asymptomatic” patients. We suggest an immediate reinforcement of telehealth services in the regions of lower income as a strategy to support COVID-19 management.
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spelling Montelongo Flores, AlfredoBecker, Joao LuizRoman, RudiOliveira, Elise Botteselle deUmpierre, Roberto NunesGonçalves, Marcelo RodriguesSilva, Rodolfo Souza daDoniec, KatarzynaYetisen, Ali K.2022-04-13T04:50:21Z20211932-6203http://hdl.handle.net/10183/237068001138025In Dec 2020 Brazil became one of the worldwide epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 7.2M reported cases. Brazil has a large territory with unequal distribution of healthcare resources including physicians. Resource limitation has been one of the main factors hampering Brazil’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Telemedicine has been an effective approach for COVID-19 management as it allows to reduce the risk of cross-contamination and provides support to remote rural locations. Here we present the analyses of teleconsultations from a countrywide telemedicine service (Telessa´udeRS-UFRGS, TRS), that provides physician-to-physician remote support during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. We performed a descriptive analysis of the teleconsultation incoming calls and a text analysis from the call transcripts. Our findings indicate that TRS teleconsultations in Brazil experienced an exponential increment of 802.% during a period of 6 days, after the first death due to COVID-19 was reported. However, the number of teleconsultations cases decreased over time, despite the number of reported COVID-19 cases continuously increasing. The results also showed that physicians in low-income municipalities, based on GDP per capita, are less likely to consult the telemedicine service despite facing higher rates of COVID-19 cases. The text analysis of call transcripts from medical teleconsultations showed that the main concern of physicians were “asymptomatic” patients. We suggest an immediate reinforcement of telehealth services in the regions of lower income as a strategy to support COVID-19 management.Telemedicinaapplication/pdfengPlos one. San Francisco. Vol. 16, no. 7 (July 2021), e0254339, 14 p.TelemedicinaCOVID-19The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in BrazilEstrangeiroinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Institucional da UFRGSinstname:Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)instacron:UFRGSTEXT001138025.pdf.txt001138025.pdf.txtExtracted Texttext/plain47910http://www.lume.ufrgs.br/bitstream/10183/237068/2/001138025.pdf.txt1f682be606b8849da53a00069a618c19MD52ORIGINAL001138025.pdfTexto completo (inglês)application/pdf1492487http://www.lume.ufrgs.br/bitstream/10183/237068/1/001138025.pdf19ecd9e24b1dc4944c949d0a5e862b29MD5110183/2370682024-10-18 06:55:32.856221oai:www.lume.ufrgs.br:10183/237068Repositório de PublicaçõesPUBhttps://lume.ufrgs.br/oai/requestopendoar:2024-10-18T09:55:32Repositório Institucional da UFRGS - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)false
dc.title.pt_BR.fl_str_mv The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
title The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
spellingShingle The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
Montelongo Flores, Alfredo
Telemedicina
COVID-19
title_short The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
title_full The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
title_fullStr The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
title_full_unstemmed The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
title_sort The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
author Montelongo Flores, Alfredo
author_facet Montelongo Flores, Alfredo
Becker, Joao Luiz
Roman, Rudi
Oliveira, Elise Botteselle de
Umpierre, Roberto Nunes
Gonçalves, Marcelo Rodrigues
Silva, Rodolfo Souza da
Doniec, Katarzyna
Yetisen, Ali K.
author_role author
author2 Becker, Joao Luiz
Roman, Rudi
Oliveira, Elise Botteselle de
Umpierre, Roberto Nunes
Gonçalves, Marcelo Rodrigues
Silva, Rodolfo Souza da
Doniec, Katarzyna
Yetisen, Ali K.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Montelongo Flores, Alfredo
Becker, Joao Luiz
Roman, Rudi
Oliveira, Elise Botteselle de
Umpierre, Roberto Nunes
Gonçalves, Marcelo Rodrigues
Silva, Rodolfo Souza da
Doniec, Katarzyna
Yetisen, Ali K.
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Telemedicina
COVID-19
topic Telemedicina
COVID-19
description In Dec 2020 Brazil became one of the worldwide epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 7.2M reported cases. Brazil has a large territory with unequal distribution of healthcare resources including physicians. Resource limitation has been one of the main factors hampering Brazil’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Telemedicine has been an effective approach for COVID-19 management as it allows to reduce the risk of cross-contamination and provides support to remote rural locations. Here we present the analyses of teleconsultations from a countrywide telemedicine service (Telessa´udeRS-UFRGS, TRS), that provides physician-to-physician remote support during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. We performed a descriptive analysis of the teleconsultation incoming calls and a text analysis from the call transcripts. Our findings indicate that TRS teleconsultations in Brazil experienced an exponential increment of 802.% during a period of 6 days, after the first death due to COVID-19 was reported. However, the number of teleconsultations cases decreased over time, despite the number of reported COVID-19 cases continuously increasing. The results also showed that physicians in low-income municipalities, based on GDP per capita, are less likely to consult the telemedicine service despite facing higher rates of COVID-19 cases. The text analysis of call transcripts from medical teleconsultations showed that the main concern of physicians were “asymptomatic” patients. We suggest an immediate reinforcement of telehealth services in the regions of lower income as a strategy to support COVID-19 management.
publishDate 2021
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dc.date.accessioned.fl_str_mv 2022-04-13T04:50:21Z
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dc.relation.ispartof.pt_BR.fl_str_mv Plos one. San Francisco. Vol. 16, no. 7 (July 2021), e0254339, 14 p.
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