Telehealth-Based Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review of Features and Challenges

Background: As an ever-growing popular service, telehealth catered for better access to high-quality healthcare services. It is more valuable and cost-effective, particularly in the middle of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, this study aimed to systematically review the features and challenges of telehealth-based services developed to support COVID-19 patients and healthcare providers. Methods: A comprehensive search was done for the English language and peer-reviewed articles published until November 2020 using PubMed and Scopus electronic databases. In this review paper, only studies focusing on the telehealth-based service to support COVID-19 patients and healthcare providers were included. The first author's name, publication year, country of the research, study objectives, outcomes, function type including screening, triage, prevention, diagnosis, treatment or follow-up, target population, media, communication type, guideline-based design, main findings, and challenges were extracted, classified, and tabulated. Results: Of the 5,005 studies identified initially, 64 met the eligibility criteria. The studies came from 18 countries. Most of them were conducted in the United States and China. Phone calls, mobile applications, videoconferencing or video calls, emails, websites, text messages, mixed-reality, and teleradiology software were used as the media for communication. The majority of studies used a synchronous communication. The articles addressed the prevention, screening, triage, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up aspects of COVID-19 which the most common purpose was the patients' follow-up (34/64, 53%). Thirteen group barriers were identified in the literature, which technology acceptance and user adoption, concerns about the adequacy and accuracy of subjective patient assessment, and technical issues were the most frequent ones. Conclusion: This review revealed the usefulness of telehealth-based services during the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond. The features and challenges identified through the literature can be helpful for a better understanding of current telehealth approaches and pointed out the need for clear guidelines, scientific evidence, and innovative policies to implement successful telehealth projects.