Integrating telemedicine to support digital health care for the management of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The current health care crisis and the need for social distancing to protect medical practitioners and patients have necessitated the need to adopt new initiatives for the treatment of patients. One of such initiatives is the adoption of telemedicine which involves diagnosis or medical service provided by a consulting physician to patients digitally. Telemedicine is implemented using telecommunication technology either asynchronously or synchronously via audio and video systems. Therefore, this study adopts an integrative literature review to provide evidence on the role of telemedicine to support digital health care for the management of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Findings from this study present the benefits of integrating telemedicine for digital health care management. Additionally, findings discuss how telemedicine can be integrated for remote management of health care. Besides, recent polices and trends in telemedicine are discussed. Implications from this study discuss the challenges and recommendations on how telemedicine can be integrated into digital health care management during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study provides a timely guide on the potential of telemedicine to support digital health care, as a response to COVID-19 crisis now and into the future.