Teleconsultation in family medicine amid the Covid-19 pandemic: An adequate tool?

INTRODUCTION: Teleconsultation is an emerging tool whose utilization dramatically increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our aim was to determine its clinical accuracy. METHODS: This prospective study was carried out during the first wave of Covid-19. Patients were teleconsulted by either general practitioners or emergency doctors reporting clinical exam results to the ID physicians by phone. Five signs were specifically checked: dyspnea, fever, cough, anosmia and flu-like illness. Data collected by remote consultation were compared to face-to-face examination in an ID Department. RESULTS: From March to April 2020, 149 patients were seen by remote medical care. Dyspnea was found in 14.1% of the teleconsultation patients vs 3.4% in face-to-face consultation; fever in 47.0 vs. 15.4%; cough in 69.1 vs. 16.1%; anosmia in 3.4 vs. 1.3%; flu-like illness in 53.0 vs. 7.4% (all differences significant: P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: We observed incongruency between remote and face-to-face consultation for the main clinical signs of Covid-19.