Teleconsultation in a pandemic due to coronavirus: Challenges for telemedicine in the post-COVID-19 era

Abstract

After being decreed, as of March 24, 2020, social isolation and mandatory confinement began in the national territory with the aim of stopping the transmission and preventing the spread of the coronavirus as it was declared a pandemic by the World Organization of Health (WHO). The Instituto de Coloproctología (ICO) designed and developed, together with its largest insurance company EPS SURA and through the available technologies of information, a teleconsultation program, with the aim of maintaining the activities of colorectal surgery and pelvic floor biofeedback and thus guaranteeing uninterrupted medical care and access for our patients. After twenty-five days, 626 consultations were scheduled (colorectal surgery 62 % and pelvic floor biofeedback 38 %) with a percentage of execution of 94 % and a resolution of 78%. This shows that telemedicine, like all teleworking activities, came to stay with high levels of satisfaction, in a world that will never be the same again.