Abstract
With the continuously expanding pandemic of COVID‑19 and the need for attending non‑COVID patients in a lockdown state, most healthcare institutions in the Greater Male’ area chose telemedicine as a route to consult patients. Being a necessity in the time of this crisis; this is the first time in the history of the Maldives that teleconsultations were conducted comprehensively. Although most healthcare institutions were not ready for such an endeavour, they were quick to use available social media tools to introduce teleconsultations. Aasandha; the National insurance scheme; gave this approach a boost when it accepted teleconsultations as a covered form of consultation. Medica Hospital, to find out the feasibility and resultant patient satisfaction of teleconsultations, conducted a patient satisfaction survey on patients accessing their services in May 2020. From the 706 consultations done among eight specialities, ninety patients were contacted for this survey. Sixty‑three per cent were very satisfied with the service, and all participants were happy to continue utilising teleconsultations from Medica Hospital after the COVID‑19 pandemic is over. It is apparent from this survey that patients accept telemedicine as a viable technology for responding to patient needs during emergencies, and is likely to remain acceptable as a way of consultation in the new norm as well.
References
American Medical Association. (2016, June 13). AMA adopts new guidance for ethical practice in telemedicine. Retrieved from ttps://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ ama-adopts-new-guidance-ethical-practice-telemedicine
Bakhai, M., Croney, L., Waller, O., Henshall, N., Felstead, C., (2020). Using Online Consultations In Primary Care: Implementation Toolkit. NHS England. Retrieved from https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/online-consultations-implementation-toolkit-v1.1-updated.pdf
Bashshur, R., Doarn, C. R., Frenk, J. M., Kvedar, J. C., & Woolliscroft, J. O. (2020). Telemedicine and the COVID-19 pandemic, lessons for the future. Telemedicine and e‑Health, 26(5), 571-573. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2020.29040.rb
Berg, M. (1999). Patient care information systems and healthcare work: a sociotechnical approach. International journal of medical informatics, 55(2), 87-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1386-5056(99)00011-8
Broens, T. H. F., Huis in ‘t Veld, M. H. A., Vollenbroek-Hutten, M. M. R., Hermens, H. J., van Halteren, A., & Nieuwenhuis, L. J. M. (2007). Determinants of successful telemedicine implementations: a literature study. Journal of telemedicine and telecare, 13(1/6), 303-309. https://doi.org/10.1258/135763307781644951
Chen, Y. Y., Li, C. M., Liang, J. C., & Tsai, C. C. (2018). Health information obtained from the internet and changes in medical decision making: questionnaire development and cross-sectional survey. Journal of medical Internet research, 20(2), e47. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.9370
Daniel, H., & Sulmasy, L. S. (2015). Policy recommendations to guide the use of telemedicine in primary care settings: an American College of Physicians position paper. Annals of internal medicine, 163(10), 787-789. https://doi.org/10.7326/m15-0498
Dasgupta, D. (2020, May 21). Telemedicine witnesses rapid growth in India amid coronavirus pandemic. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/telemedicine-witnesses-rapid-growth-in-india-amid-coronavirus-pandemic.
Donelan, K., Barreto, E. A., Sossong, S., Michael, C., Estrada, J. J., Cohen, A. B., ... & Schwamm, L. H. (2019). Patient and clinician experiences with telehealth for patient follow-up care. Am J Manag Care, 25(1), 40-44.
Duffy, S., & Lee, T. H. (2018). In-Person healthcare as Option B. The New England Journal of Medicine, 378(2), 104-106. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmp1710735
Edwards, L., Thomas, C., Gregory, A., Yardley, L., O’Cathain, A., Montgomery, A. A., & Salisbury, C. (2014). Are people with chronic diseases interested in using telehealth? A cross-sectional postal survey. Journal of medical Internet research, 16(5), e123. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.3257
Gillis, G., Newsham, D., & Maeder, A. J. (Eds., 2015). Global telehealth 2015: integrating technology and information for better healthcare (Vol. 209). Amsterdam: IOS Press. ISBN: 978-1-61499-505-0
Greenhalgh, T., Wherton, J., Shaw, S., & Morrison, C. (2020). Video consultations for COVID-19. BMJ (Clinical Research ed.), 368, m998-m998. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m998
Indian Medical Council (2020). Telemedicine Practice Guidelines: Enabling Registered Medical Practitioners to Provide healthcare using telemedicine.
Istepanian, R. S., & Lacal, J. C. (2003, September). Emerging mobile communication technologies for health: some imperative notes on m-health. In Proceedings of the 25th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (IEEE Cat. No. 03CH37439) (Vol. 2, pp. 1414-1416). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IEMBS.2003.1279581
López, C., Valenzuela, J. I., Calderón, J. E., Velasco, A. F., & Fajardo, R. (2011). A telephone survey of patient satisfaction with realtime telemedicine in a rural community in Colombia. Journal of telemedicine and telecare, 17(2), 83-87. https://doi.org/10.1258/jtt.2010.100611
Ministry of Health (2014). Maldives Health Master Plan, 2016‑ 2025. Retrieved from http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/mdv188848.pdf
Naseem, F. (2019, June 17). Address by His Excellency Faisal Naseem, Vice President of the Republic of Maldives, at the Maldives Partnership Forum. f: SA/NRFN/2019/22. Retrieved from https://presidency.gov.mv/Press/Article/ 21311
Nazviya, M, Kodukula, Subrahmanyam. (2011). Evaluation of Critical Success Factors for Telemedicine Implementation. International Journal of Computer Applications. 12. 29-36. https://doi.org/10.5120/1718-2304
Polinski, J. M., Barker, T., Gagliano, N., Sussman, A., Brennan, T. A., & Shrank, W. H. (2016). Patients’ satisfaction with and preference for telehealth visits. Journal of general internal medicine, 31(3), 269-275.
Shaahunaz, F. (2020, March 15). ADK Hospital unveils online flu clinic. The Edition. https://edition.mv/news/15491.
Sobir, A. R., Shiuna, F., Ibrahim, L., & Shafeeq, S. (2014). Maldives Human Development Report 2014‑Bridging the Divide: Addressing Vulnerability, Reducing Inequality. Ministry of Finance and Treasury and United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/maldives_hdr2014_full_report_0.pdf
Song, X., Liu, X., & Wang, C. (2020). The role of telemedicine during the COVID-19 epidemic in China—experience from Shandong province. Critical care, 24, 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-020-02884-9
Tuckson, R. V., Edmunds, M., & Hodgkins, M. L. (2017). Telehealth. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(16), 1585-1592. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsr1503323
World Health Organization. (2020). Strengthening the health system response to COVID‑19: Recommendations for the WHO European Region. Copenhagen: World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/333072 /WHO-EURO-2020-806-40541-54465-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=yCOVID‑19: A boost for telemedicine