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The coronavirus outbreak has had a profound impact on the entire planet. COVID-19 became one of the most serious challenges faced by the global community, disrupting normal processes across various industries and changing the lives of millions of people. However, while most areas of human activity saw a strong pandemic-conditioned impact, its effect on the healthcare system has been particularly serious. The global medical infrastructure and workers showed a consolidated effort at the time of a previously unseen healthcare crisis. The magnitude of the situation became a major stressor for the system, forming a highly difficult environment. However, in addition to the direct impact of the pandemic on the population, COVID-19 had other disrupting repercussions. Following the response protocols implemented by the authorities in an attempt to contain the virus, direct personal contact had to be reduced to a minimum. This principle included the patient interaction in medical settings, especially for non-urgent cases. Under these circumstances, electronic consultations became an emerging healthcare trend. This format entails an array of challenges for the system, as well as opportunities. Nevertheless, the former are to be addressed effectively for the latter to reveal themselves.
First of all, while the format of telemedicine is not a new phenomenon, its implementation had never been full-scale prior to the pandemic. As in many other sectors, COVID-19 changed the rules of the industry, leading to an unprecedented prevalence of remote medical interactions. For many people, the novelty of the format became a major drawback. Indeed, the effectiveness of telemedicine is not a proven nor well-established concept in the minds of the population. Therefore, for the patients, it may have been associated with decreased quality of care (Gadzinski et al., 2020). In this regard, overcoming prejudices and creating a favorable image of the format became the primary challenge for the system. Electronic consultations have been introduced for both COVID patients and other cases to reduce the risks of the virus contraction. In the present situation, the widespread use of telemedicine has become a necessity, but it has the potential to improve the prevalence of the format in the long term. This way, more patients will benefit from affordable and efficient electronic consultations in the post-COVID age, especially in non-serious cases, thus reducing the workload of the system.
At the same time, the format of electronic consultations faced another impediment in the form of the population’s digital literacy. This barrier has been observed across other spheres, in which remote communication became the norm, such as education. Within the healthcare system, the lack of digital literacy encompassed both medical professionals and their patients. Indeed, as stated by Hong et al. (2020), electronic consultations are highly demanding from the technological perspective. In addition to a stable connection and high-quality video equipment, they require a certain degree of computer knowledge from the users on both ends. The necessity of ensuring such consultations prompted medical professionals and their patients to improve their digital literacy, which is a positive development in the long term. In addition, the emerging prevalence of telemedicine became an impetus for the companies that develop high-tech solutions in the spheres of medicine and telecommunications. State-of-the-art applications and Internet-based technologies became available for all participants of the healthcare system, which is a highly beneficial development (Sust, 2020). Such trends reflect the opportunities that emerge in the time of crisis and help to build a better post-COVID future of healthcare.
Ultimately, the necessity of electronic consultations entailed major challenges for the healthcare systems. Most patients and medical professionals were not familiar with the modern remote solutions, which instilled a degree of mistrust. In addition, electronic consultations imposed additional requirements in terms of technological preparedness and digital literacies. However, the age of COVID prompted patients and practitioners to update their knowledge of the contemporary solutions, transforming the crisis into the time of new opportunities.
References
Gadzinski, A. J., Andino, J. J., Odisho, A. Y., Watts, K. L., Gore, J. L., & Ellimoottil, C. (2020). Telemedicine and econsults for hospitalized patients during COVID-19. Urology, 141, 12–14. Web.
Hong, Z., Li, N., Li, D., Li, B., Ziong, W., Lu, L., Li, W., & Zhou, D. (2020). Telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic: Experiences from Western China.Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(5). Web.
Sust, P. P., Solans, O., Fajardo, J. C., Peralta, M. M., Rodenas, P., Gabalda, J., Eroles, L. G., Comella, A., Munoz, C. V., Ribes, J. S., Monfa, R. R., & Piera-Jimenez, J. (2020). Turning the crisis into an opportunity: Digital health strategies deployed during the COVID-19 outbreak.JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 6(2). Web.
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