University of Connecticut Health Center, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, United States of America.
University of Connecticut Health Center, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, United States of America.
Am J Otolaryngol. 2021 May-Jun;42(3):102928. doi: 10.1016/j.amjoto.2021.102928. Epub 2021 Jan 20.
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and compile key clinically relevant applications of telemedicine for use in otolaryngology relevant to the post-COVID-19 era.
Systematic Literature Review.
Pubmed and Google Scholar.
Pubmed and Google Scholar were queried using combined key words such as "telemedicine," "covid" and "otolaryngology." The searches were completed in March-August 2020. Additional queries were made with particular subspecialty phrases such as "rhinology" or "otology" to maximize yield of relevant titles. Relevant articles were selected for abstract review. Applicable abstracts were then selected for review of the full text.
Initial search identified 279 results. These were screened for relevance and 100 abstracts were selected for review. Abstracts were excluded if they were not in English, not related to otolaryngology, or if the full text was unavailable for access. Of these, 37 articles were selected for complete review of the full text.
The sudden healthcare closures during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a sharp increase in the use of telemedicine, particularly in subspecialty fields. Otolaryngologists are at a unique risk of infection resulting from the examination of the head and neck and aerosol-generating procedures due to the predilection of viral particles for the nasal cavities and pharynx. The COVID-19 pandemic may have served as a catalyst to implement telemedicine into clinical practice, however identifying ways to integrate telemedicine long term is key for a sustainable and viable practice in the post-COVID-19 era. Although many states are now finding themselves on the down-sloping side of their infection rate curve, many others remain at the apex. Additionally, the risk of future waves of this pandemic, or the onset of another pandemic, should not be overlooked. Practice modification guidelines that mitigate infection risk by utilizing telemedicine would be useful in these instances. Telemedicine can help to reduce infection spread by limiting unnecessary in-person interactions and help conserve personal protective equipment (PPE) by facilitating remote care with the added benefits of expanding care to broad geographic areas, limiting cost, time, and travel burden on patients and families, and enabling consistent follow up.
本文旨在回顾文献，总结远程医疗在耳鼻喉科领域在后 COVID-19 时代的关键临床应用。
系统文献回顾。
PubMed 和 Google Scholar。
通过结合“远程医疗”“covid”和“耳鼻喉科”等关键词，在 PubMed 和 Google Scholar 上进行检索。检索于 2020 年 3 月至 8 月完成。还使用特定的亚专科短语（如“鼻科学”或“耳科学”）进行了额外的查询，以最大限度地获取相关标题。选择相关文章进行摘要审查。然后，选择适用的摘要进行全文审查。
最初的搜索确定了 279 个结果。对这些结果进行了相关性筛选，选择了 100 篇摘要进行审查。如果不是英文、与耳鼻喉科无关或无法获取全文，则排除摘要。其中，有 37 篇文章被选入全文审查。
COVID-19 大流行期间，医疗保健机构突然关闭，导致远程医疗的使用急剧增加，尤其是在亚专科领域。由于病毒颗粒偏爱鼻腔和咽部，耳鼻喉科医生在检查头颈部和产生气溶胶的过程中，面临着感染的独特风险。COVID-19 大流行可能成为将远程医疗纳入临床实践的催化剂，但确定长期整合远程医疗的方法是在后 COVID-19 时代实现可持续和可行实践的关键。虽然许多州现在发现自己处于感染率曲线的下降阶段，但许多其他州仍处于顶点。此外，不应忽视未来出现这种大流行浪潮或另一种大流行的风险。在这些情况下，利用远程医疗降低感染风险的实践修改指南将是有用的。远程医疗可以通过限制不必要的面对面接触来帮助减少感染的传播，并有助于节约个人防护设备（PPE），通过远程护理促进广泛的地理区域的护理，降低成本、时间和患者及家属的旅行负担，并使随访保持一致。
