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Evaluation of Tele-rheumatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asian Population: A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune condition associated with a potential for deformities. It is one of the common conditions to seek health care. Hence, the present study was conducted to assess the telemedicine services for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis duri...

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Autores principales: Sandhu, Amit, Agarwal, Amit, Kaur, Paramvir, Sharma, Meenakshi, Sra, Harnoor, Singh, Manvi, Jaiswal, Nishant, Chauhan, Anil, Gupta, Anju, Singh, Meenu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8497142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34630561
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5558826
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author Sandhu, Amit
Agarwal, Amit
Kaur, Paramvir
Sharma, Meenakshi
Sra, Harnoor
Singh, Manvi
Jaiswal, Nishant
Chauhan, Anil
Gupta, Anju
Singh, Meenu
author_facet Sandhu, Amit
Agarwal, Amit
Kaur, Paramvir
Sharma, Meenakshi
Sra, Harnoor
Singh, Manvi
Jaiswal, Nishant
Chauhan, Anil
Gupta, Anju
Singh, Meenu
author_sort Sandhu, Amit
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune condition associated with a potential for deformities. It is one of the common conditions to seek health care. Hence, the present study was conducted to assess the telemedicine services for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic in an Asian Indian population. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted (March 2020–June 2020) in the telemedicine department of a premier northern Indian tertiary care institution. Out of the total patients enrolled (N = 7577) in telemedicine services, 122 rheumatoid arthritis patients (1.6%) were followed for 1 month to assess change in functional status by modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ). Telephonic interviews of the enrolled patients were conducted to determine the level of understanding of advice given by consultants, barriers during the consultation, and satisfaction with teleconsultations for rheumatology clinics. RESULTS: For the native people, language of the clinicians was the main barrier (20%) in telerheumatology. Saving of time and money was observed as beneficial factors for patients. More than three-quarters of all rheumatoid arthritis patients were ready to use teleconsultation in the near future. A similar proportion of patients were in support for the recommendation of these services to other persons. CONCLUSION: We report the successful use of telemedicine services in the evaluation and management of rheumatic diseases in the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.
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spelling pubmed-84971422021-10-08 Evaluation of Tele-rheumatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asian Population: A Pilot Study Sandhu, Amit Agarwal, Amit Kaur, Paramvir Sharma, Meenakshi Sra, Harnoor Singh, Manvi Jaiswal, Nishant Chauhan, Anil Gupta, Anju Singh, Meenu Int J Telemed Appl Research Article OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune condition associated with a potential for deformities. It is one of the common conditions to seek health care. Hence, the present study was conducted to assess the telemedicine services for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic in an Asian Indian population. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted (March 2020–June 2020) in the telemedicine department of a premier northern Indian tertiary care institution. Out of the total patients enrolled (N = 7577) in telemedicine services, 122 rheumatoid arthritis patients (1.6%) were followed for 1 month to assess change in functional status by modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ). Telephonic interviews of the enrolled patients were conducted to determine the level of understanding of advice given by consultants, barriers during the consultation, and satisfaction with teleconsultations for rheumatology clinics. RESULTS: For the native people, language of the clinicians was the main barrier (20%) in telerheumatology. Saving of time and money was observed as beneficial factors for patients. More than three-quarters of all rheumatoid arthritis patients were ready to use teleconsultation in the near future. A similar proportion of patients were in support for the recommendation of these services to other persons. CONCLUSION: We report the successful use of telemedicine services in the evaluation and management of rheumatic diseases in the current COVID-19 pandemic situation. Hindawi 2021-09-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8497142/ /pubmed/34630561 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5558826 Text en Copyright © 2021 Amit Sandhu et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Sandhu, Amit
Agarwal, Amit
Kaur, Paramvir
Sharma, Meenakshi
Sra, Harnoor
Singh, Manvi
Jaiswal, Nishant
Chauhan, Anil
Gupta, Anju
Singh, Meenu
Evaluation of Tele-rheumatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asian Population: A Pilot Study
title Evaluation of Tele-rheumatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asian Population: A Pilot Study
title_full Evaluation of Tele-rheumatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asian Population: A Pilot Study
title_fullStr Evaluation of Tele-rheumatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asian Population: A Pilot Study
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of Tele-rheumatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asian Population: A Pilot Study
title_short Evaluation of Tele-rheumatology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asian Population: A Pilot Study
title_sort evaluation of tele-rheumatology during the covid-19 pandemic in asian population: a pilot study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8497142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34630561
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5558826
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