Adebayo Philip Babatunde, Jusabani Ahmed, Mukhtar Murtaza, Zehri Ali Akbar
Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine, Aga Khan, University, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Department of Radiology, Aga Khan Hospital, Dar es Salaam.
Pan Afr Med J. 2020 Jul 28;35(Suppl 2):125. doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.2.24977. eCollection 2020.
the current COVID-19 pandemic has occasioned the increased adoption of telemedicine. This study reports the uptake and trend of a new teleconsultation service in a Tanzanian hospital.
this is a retrospective observational study that profiled requests for teleconsultations and uptake of the service between April 1, 2020, and June 30, 2020.
two hundred and eighteen telephone inquiries were received over the 3 months. One hundred and sixteen (53.2%) individuals followed through with the teleconsultations. Paediatric (38.8%) and Internal medicine (32.8%) were the subspecialties with the highest number of teleconsultations. In a frame of 3 months, teleconsultation uptake was highest in May and lowest in June.
there was a steady rise and a rapid fall in requests and uptake of teleconsultation services over the period under evaluation. Lack of insurance coverage for teleconsultations was a significant barrier. We propose a re-education and reiteration of the benefits of telemedicine to all stakeholders. This is important for the current era and beyond.
当前的新冠疫情促使远程医疗的应用日益增加。本研究报告了坦桑尼亚一家医院一项新的远程会诊服务的使用情况和趋势。
这是一项回顾性观察研究，分析了2020年4月1日至2020年6月30日期间的远程会诊请求及该服务的使用情况。
在这3个月里共收到218次电话咨询。其中116人（53.2%）进行了远程会诊。儿科（38.8%）和内科（32.8%）是远程会诊数量最多的亚专科。在3个月的时间内，5月的远程会诊使用率最高，6月最低。
在评估期间，远程会诊服务的请求和使用呈现出先稳步上升后迅速下降的趋势。远程会诊缺乏保险覆盖是一个重大障碍。我们建议对所有利益相关者重新开展远程医疗益处的教育并进行反复强调。这在当前及未来时期都很重要。
