EMZ Solutions, New York City, New York, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2021 Apr 30;10(4):485-491. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piaa146.
Telehealth (TH) practices among pediatric infectious disease (PID) specialists prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are largely unknown.
In 2019, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) Telehealth Working Group surveyed PIDS members to collect data on the use of TH modalities, adoption barriers, interest, extent of curbside consultations (CCs), and reimbursement.
Of 1213 PIDS members, 161 (13.3%) completed the survey, and the responses of 154 (12.7%) from the United States were included in our report. Medical school (63.6%) and hospital (44.8%) were the commonest work settings with 16.9% practicing in both of them. The most common TH modalities used were synchronous provider-patient virtual visits (20.8%) and synchronous provider-provider consultations (13.6%). TH services included outpatient consultations (48.1%), vaccine recommendations (43.5%), inpatient consultations (39.6%), and travel advice (39.6%). Barriers perceived by respondents included reimbursement (55.8%), lack of experience with TH (55.2%), lack of institutional support (52.6%), lack of administrative support (50%), and cost of implementation (48.7%). Most of the respondents (144, 93.5%) were interested in implementing a wide range of TH modalities. CCs accounted for 1-20 hours/week among 148 respondents.
Most of the PIDS survey respondents reported low utilization of TH and several perceived barriers to TH adoption before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, they expressed a strong interest in adopting different TH modalities. They also reported spending considerable time on non-reimbursed CCs from within and outside their institutions. The results of this survey provide baseline information that will allow comparisons with post-COVID-19 changes in the adoption of TH in PID.
在 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行之前，儿科传染病（PID）专家的远程医疗（TH）实践在很大程度上是未知的。
2019 年，儿科传染病学会（PIDS）远程医疗工作组对 PIDS 成员进行了调查，以收集有关 TH 模式的使用、采用障碍、兴趣、路边咨询（CC）的程度和报销的信息。
在 1213 名 PIDS 成员中，有 161 名（13.3%）完成了调查，其中来自美国的 154 名（12.7%）的答复被纳入我们的报告。医学院（63.6%）和医院（44.8%）是最常见的工作场所，其中 16.9%的人同时在这两个地方工作。使用最多的 TH 模式是同步提供者-患者虚拟访问（20.8%）和同步提供者-提供者咨询（13.6%）。TH 服务包括门诊咨询（48.1%）、疫苗推荐（43.5%）、住院咨询（39.6%）和旅行建议（39.6%）。受访者认为的障碍包括报销（55.8%）、缺乏 TH 经验（55.2%）、缺乏机构支持（52.6%）、缺乏行政支持（50%）和实施成本（48.7%）。大多数受访者（144 人，93.5%）有兴趣实施广泛的 TH 模式。在 148 名回答者中，有 144 名报告每周进行 1-20 小时的 CC。
大多数 PIDS 调查受访者报告说，在 COVID-19 大流行之前，他们对 TH 的利用率较低，并且对 TH 的采用存在一些感知障碍。尽管如此，他们还是对采用不同的 TH 模式表示了浓厚的兴趣。他们还报告说，他们花费了大量的时间在机构内部和外部进行非报销的 CC。这项调查的结果提供了基线信息，使我们能够将其与 COVID-19 后 PID 中 TH 采用的变化进行比较。
