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The Prevalence of Teleophthalmology in the Piedmont Region of Italy: Current Situation and Future Perspectives

Purpose: This cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the actual prevalence of telemedicine, with a particular attention to teleophthalmology programs, in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy and investigate the prospects of the discipline, comparing the situation with the rest of Italy. Information...

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Autores principales: Nuzzi, Raffaele, Deraco, Floriana, Scalabrin, Simona
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9323649/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35886460
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148608
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author Nuzzi, Raffaele
Deraco, Floriana
Scalabrin, Simona
author_facet Nuzzi, Raffaele
Deraco, Floriana
Scalabrin, Simona
author_sort Nuzzi, Raffaele
collection PubMed
description Purpose: This cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the actual prevalence of telemedicine, with a particular attention to teleophthalmology programs, in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy and investigate the prospects of the discipline, comparing the situation with the rest of Italy. Information about the current teleophthalmological development is important to assess the state-of-the-art of innovation in medicine in different areas of the world so that there can be a healthy comparison and evaluation of progress and backlog. Methods: We sent questionnaires to every Local Healthcare Authority and gathered the answers in five distinct categories. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we collected information by telephone. We investigated five primary areas: what type of telemedicine services are currently in operation, how they are managed, the presence of any evaluation of patient satisfaction and cost-savings, and the prospects of future teleophthalmology programs to be implemented. Results: Only 2% of the total telemedicine programs are in the field of ophthalmology. The greater parts are in the field of cardiology (15%) and endocrinology (13%). Currently, only one program of teleophthalmology exists in the territory, and at least four more projects are waiting to be approved or funded. Surveys about patient satisfaction were not provided and there was no evidence of cost-saving. Conclusions: Teleophthalmology in Piedmont is slowly developing, although there is a lack of a unified network for storing and managing patients’ data. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine usage drastically increased, and there is a need to evaluate this trend to understand its place in the future of medicine.
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spelling pubmed-93236492022-07-27 The Prevalence of Teleophthalmology in the Piedmont Region of Italy: Current Situation and Future Perspectives Nuzzi, Raffaele Deraco, Floriana Scalabrin, Simona Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Purpose: This cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the actual prevalence of telemedicine, with a particular attention to teleophthalmology programs, in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy and investigate the prospects of the discipline, comparing the situation with the rest of Italy. Information about the current teleophthalmological development is important to assess the state-of-the-art of innovation in medicine in different areas of the world so that there can be a healthy comparison and evaluation of progress and backlog. Methods: We sent questionnaires to every Local Healthcare Authority and gathered the answers in five distinct categories. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we collected information by telephone. We investigated five primary areas: what type of telemedicine services are currently in operation, how they are managed, the presence of any evaluation of patient satisfaction and cost-savings, and the prospects of future teleophthalmology programs to be implemented. Results: Only 2% of the total telemedicine programs are in the field of ophthalmology. The greater parts are in the field of cardiology (15%) and endocrinology (13%). Currently, only one program of teleophthalmology exists in the territory, and at least four more projects are waiting to be approved or funded. Surveys about patient satisfaction were not provided and there was no evidence of cost-saving. Conclusions: Teleophthalmology in Piedmont is slowly developing, although there is a lack of a unified network for storing and managing patients’ data. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine usage drastically increased, and there is a need to evaluate this trend to understand its place in the future of medicine. MDPI 2022-07-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9323649/ /pubmed/35886460 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148608 Text en © 2022 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 Article
Nuzzi, Raffaele
Deraco, Floriana
Scalabrin, Simona
The Prevalence of Teleophthalmology in the Piedmont Region of Italy: Current Situation and Future Perspectives
title The Prevalence of Teleophthalmology in the Piedmont Region of Italy: Current Situation and Future Perspectives
title_full The Prevalence of Teleophthalmology in the Piedmont Region of Italy: Current Situation and Future Perspectives
title_fullStr The Prevalence of Teleophthalmology in the Piedmont Region of Italy: Current Situation and Future Perspectives
title_full_unstemmed The Prevalence of Teleophthalmology in the Piedmont Region of Italy: Current Situation and Future Perspectives
title_short The Prevalence of Teleophthalmology in the Piedmont Region of Italy: Current Situation and Future Perspectives
title_sort prevalence of teleophthalmology in the piedmont region of italy: current situation and future perspectives
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9323649/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35886460
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148608
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