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Perspectives on Telemedicine during the Era of COVID-19; What Can Saudi Arabia Do?

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has represented a challenge to medical practice in Saudi Arabia and worldwide. In contrary to the increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients, there was a limitation in the capacity of medical practices and access to healthcare. A growing body of evidence...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Al-Hazmi, Ali Mohsen, Sheerah, Haytham A., Arafa, Ahmed
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535869/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682363
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010617
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author Al-Hazmi, Ali Mohsen
Sheerah, Haytham A.
Arafa, Ahmed
author_facet Al-Hazmi, Ali Mohsen
Sheerah, Haytham A.
Arafa, Ahmed
author_sort Al-Hazmi, Ali Mohsen
collection PubMed
description The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has represented a challenge to medical practice in Saudi Arabia and worldwide. In contrary to the increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients, there was a limitation in the capacity of medical practices and access to healthcare. A growing body of evidence from healthcare settings in Saudi Arabia and worldwide has suggested a possible role for telemedicine in responding to this evolving need. Telemedicine can be used for triage, direct care, follow-up, and consultation. It could be delivered through synchronous, asynchronous, and mixed approaches. While telemedicine has several advantages, such as accessibility and cost-effectiveness, its diagnostic reliability should be further investigated. The Saudi Vision (2030) has drawn up a roadmap to invest in digital healthcare during the coming decade; however, some barriers related to using telemedicine in Saudi healthcare settings, including cultural issues and technical difficulties, should be openly discussed. In addition, before putting telemedicine in practice on a wide scale in Saudi Arabia, more efforts should be carried out to issue updated legislation and regulations, discuss and respond to ethical concerns, and ensure data security.
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spelling pubmed-85358692021-10-23 Perspectives on Telemedicine during the Era of COVID-19; What Can Saudi Arabia Do? Al-Hazmi, Ali Mohsen Sheerah, Haytham A. Arafa, Ahmed Int J Environ Res Public Health Review The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has represented a challenge to medical practice in Saudi Arabia and worldwide. In contrary to the increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients, there was a limitation in the capacity of medical practices and access to healthcare. A growing body of evidence from healthcare settings in Saudi Arabia and worldwide has suggested a possible role for telemedicine in responding to this evolving need. Telemedicine can be used for triage, direct care, follow-up, and consultation. It could be delivered through synchronous, asynchronous, and mixed approaches. While telemedicine has several advantages, such as accessibility and cost-effectiveness, its diagnostic reliability should be further investigated. The Saudi Vision (2030) has drawn up a roadmap to invest in digital healthcare during the coming decade; however, some barriers related to using telemedicine in Saudi healthcare settings, including cultural issues and technical difficulties, should be openly discussed. In addition, before putting telemedicine in practice on a wide scale in Saudi Arabia, more efforts should be carried out to issue updated legislation and regulations, discuss and respond to ethical concerns, and ensure data security. MDPI 2021-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8535869/ /pubmed/34682363 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010617 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Al-Hazmi, Ali Mohsen
Sheerah, Haytham A.
Arafa, Ahmed
Perspectives on Telemedicine during the Era of COVID-19; What Can Saudi Arabia Do?
title Perspectives on Telemedicine during the Era of COVID-19; What Can Saudi Arabia Do?
title_full Perspectives on Telemedicine during the Era of COVID-19; What Can Saudi Arabia Do?
title_fullStr Perspectives on Telemedicine during the Era of COVID-19; What Can Saudi Arabia Do?
title_full_unstemmed Perspectives on Telemedicine during the Era of COVID-19; What Can Saudi Arabia Do?
title_short Perspectives on Telemedicine during the Era of COVID-19; What Can Saudi Arabia Do?
title_sort perspectives on telemedicine during the era of covid-19; what can saudi arabia do?
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535869/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682363
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010617
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