Editorial Note - (2022) Volume 12, Issue 1
‘‘Forbid a catastrophe going vain’’ history is witness that the challenges humanity had faced-be war injuries, natural calamities, disasters-that were regarded insuperable presented as opportunities. Such occasions during the time of crisis unearth new vistas. Along the same lines, in addition to the people becoming more hygienic and healthconscious, another positive effect of this enforced change is the emergence of teleconsultation and telemedicine with a big boom. The present crisis has provided a lease to set up an infrastructure for providing care through telemedicine. The question arises ‘What does telemedicine mean?’ Simply, telemedicine can be called convenient connectivity providing access to health-related information and communication using the internet and other associated technologies. During the present pandemic crisis, telemedicine emerged as a boon ensuring quality service to the community with preserving the safety of health care workers. It has been incorporated into the healthcare system as a way forward to augment the competence of the healthcare delivery system.
COVID-19 happens to be the first pandemic in the social-media age. Telemedicine lends an abutment to conventional medicine in furnishing clinical services when distance proves to be crucial. Health care workers are trying to manage patients in far-flung areas, in real-time, by utilizing online services. Sharing images and videos help in reaching a decision, thus aiding in triaging the patients who need to attend the facility. Teleconsultation has become a norm in many hospitals with the patients from remote areas getting satisfactory medical attention within the comforts of their homes without any danger of contracting the infection [1].
Nowadays telemedicine has taken the lead. Important to note here is that almost all traditional methods of education and training in our field have been put on hold due to the pandemic. Perhaps the most upsetting development has occurred in the field of resident education, particularly in university hospitals where resident/student education is imperative. All the medical courses (undergraduate, postgraduate, and post-doctoral) need to be completed on time or with little delay. However, suspension of education and training cannot be justified (because of social distancing) when other options of continuation of the teaching are available with us. Reacting promptly, institutions created online solutions to carry on teaching unabated. Utilizing online applications installed on mobile devices or laptops, patient case discussions and treatment planning were eased out. Apart from the departmental education training programs, didactic online lectures from the pioneers of the multiple specialties are a new addition that has given a boost to knowledge sharing.
A lot many CME’s, conferences, symposia, panel discussions are being organized by many medical associations and societies. These improvisations have opened new vistas for the education and training of budding doctors [2]. Ranging from triage of the patients to regular follow-up after discharge from the hospital, telemedicine has established itself as a wonder tool for higher-level meetings and deliberations regarding the effectiveness of the containment measures taken. Furthermore, data assessment and future planning can be executed with the help of this platform.
Although online courses have been in existence for more than a decade, they have not picked up much popularity. It was the pandemic that renewed focus on the role and relevance of telemedicine services. It is beyond doubt that it has come up as a savior in the present crisis for the continuation of education as well as consultation. Several graduate and postgraduate faculties in many countries have created problembased learning tools and simulation models for clinical situations (e.g., objective structured clinical evaluation) to assess medical students' clinical competency at all levels. So, many exit examinations were contemplated and successfully completed totally on this platform, thereby permitting the timely completion of the courses.
Hence, we can understand that the pandemic has taught us to make the greatest use of the facilities available to us. It has proved as an appropriate “novel” tool in this crisis and has expanded the horizon of consultation and teaching. It can be even more beneficial if we refine and adopt it into our mainstream workflow in the future also. It will not be imprecise to state that the pandemic may not last, but the renewed interest in telemedicine wills [3].
Citation: Farooq Baba PU (2022) Covid-19- Positive side effect: Telemedicine, Surg: Curr Res 12(1), 367.
Received: 30-Dec-2021, Manuscript No. SCR-21-11295; Editor assigned: 03-Jan-2022, Pre QC No. SCR-21-11295; Reviewed: 17-Jan-2022, QC No. SCR-21-11295; Revised: 18-Jan-2022, Manuscript No. SCR-21-11295; Published: 24-Jan-2022, DOI: 10.35248/2161-1076.22.12.1.367
Copyright: © 2021 Farooq Baba PU. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
