Utilization of outpatient eSanjeevani National Teleconsultation Service during COVID- 19 pandemic in a public healthcare institution in North India

Abstract

To analyse the utilization of outpatient eSanjeevani Telemedicine Service during COVID pandemic in a public healthcare institution in North India by profiling the attributes of patients availing online video consultation in terms of gender, age, urban-rural, organ-system involvement, speciality of OPD service given and prescription analysis.This is a descriptive, cross sectional study done at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Govt. Medical College which served as a hub in a hub & spoke type model for rendering online OPD consultations; on a software platform “eSanjeevani” developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Mohali. Data from 206 audio+video based online tele-OPD consultations & their prescriptions were analysed.Out of a total 206, 114 (55%) were males and 92 (45%) were females. Mean ± S.D. age of patients was 42 ± 19.6 years. 146 (71%) connected from rural area and 60 (29%) from urban area. 38 (18%) patients required to be referred to the health-care centre and 46 (22%) patients required a review after blood biochemistry investigations. 76 (37%) were from district Kangra of Himachal Pradesh. The most common organ system involved was musculoskeletal system (19%) followed by skin (18.4%) and gastrointestinal system (16%). The most commonly prescribed class of drugs were NSAIDs & analgesics (36%) antimicrobials (23%) and antihistaminics (18%).Telemedicine is an innovative solution to many of the challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic. It can help substantially in decreasing the OPD workload in hospitals & decreasing infection chances for both patients & hospital staff.