Open AccessTelehealth for Noncritical Patients With Chronic Diseases During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author(s) -
Na Liu,
Robin Huang,
Tanya Baldacchino,
Archana Sud,
Kamal Sud,
Mohamed Khadra,
Jinman Kim
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
jmir. journal of medical internet research/journal of medical internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.446
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1439-4456
pISSN - 1438-8871
DOI - 10.2196/19493
Subject(s) - telehealth , pandemic , feeling , telemedicine , isolation (microbiology) , medicine , covid-19 , anxiety , health care , medical emergency , disease , digital health , videoconferencing , psychology , psychiatry , multimedia , infectious disease (medical specialty) , microbiology and biotechnology , economics , biology , economic growth , social psychology , computer science
During the recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, telehealth has received greater attention due to its role in reducing hospital visits from patients with COVID-19 or other conditions, while supporting home isolation in patients with mild symptoms. The needs of patients with chronic diseases tend to be overlooked during the pandemic. With reduced opportunities for routine clinic visits, these patients are adopting various telehealth services such as video consultation and remote monitoring. We advocate for more innovative designs to be considered to enhance patients’ feelings of “copresence”—a sense of connection with another interactant via digital technology—with their health care providers during this time. The copresence-enhanced design has been shown to reduce patients’ anxiety and increase their confidence in managing their chronic disease condition. It has the potential to reduce the patient’s need to reach out to their health care provider during a time when health care resources are being stretched.