Open AccessEpidemiology of 30,000 Pediatric Urgent Care Telemedicine Visits in the Era of COVID-19
Author(s) -
Mordechai Raskas,
Gabriel J Feuerstein-Mendik,
Gary R. Gerlacher,
Sheryl Cohen,
Shan Henning,
Jennifer M Cramer,
O. M. Sultan,
Sabah Iqbal
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
telemedicine and e-health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1556-3669
pISSN - 1530-5627
DOI - 10.1089/tmj.2021.0482
Subject(s) - telemedicine , pandemic , medicine , epidemiology , covid-19 , emergency department , medical emergency , population , pediatrics , emergency medicine , family medicine , health care , nursing , environmental health , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , economics , economic growth
Background: To describe the epidemiology of patients accessing a pediatric urgent care telemedicine platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study Design: We conducted a cross-sectional study of the first 30,000 pediatric patients who accessed our pediatric urgent care telemedicine platform during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study population came from 15 states and included the dates May 15 through September 16, 2020. We also described the groups of patients referred for in-person evaluation in urgent care or emergency department (ED) settings. Results: Mean patient age was 7.6 ± 5.4 years and 51% of patients were male. Twenty-one percent were publicly insured. More than 60% of patients sought care between 12 and 7 p.m. The most common reasons for seeking care were concerns for COVID-19 (50.5%) and fever (6.8%). Antibiotics were prescribed in 4.3% of visits. Children had an in-person visit to our urgent care offices on the same day in 9% of visits. Less than 1% of children were referred to the ED. Conclusions: In this large series of telemedicine visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer than 10% required escalation to an in-person office visit and fewer than 1% required escalation to an ED.