In this section
@article{Montelongo:2021:10.1371/journal.pone.0254339,
author = {Montelongo, A and Becker, JL and Roman, R and de, Oliveira EB and Umpierre, RN and Goncalves, MR and Silva, R and Doniec, K and Yetisen, AK},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0254339},
journal = {PLoS One},
pages = {1--14},
title = {The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254339},
volume = {16},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - 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 (TelessáudeRS-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.
AU - Montelongo,A
AU - Becker,JL
AU - Roman,R
AU - de,Oliveira EB
AU - Umpierre,RN
AU - Goncalves,MR
AU - Silva,R
AU - Doniec,K
AU - Yetisen,AK
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0254339
EP - 14
PY - 2021///
SN - 1932-6203
SP - 1
TI - The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil
T2 - PLoS One
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254339
UR - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000678119300062&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0254339
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/91330
VL - 16
ER -