Abstract
Hospitals are suffering from a critical challenge induced by the rapid spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Not only have patients been marginalized, but many clinicians working in the region-al hospitals have limited access to the specialist consultations and treatment guidelines they need from provincial-level hospitals to manage pneumonia cases caused by COVID-19. Telemedicine has been acknowledged as a breakthrough technology in combating epidemics. This study aims to demonstrate the implementation of Emergency Telemedicine Consultation System (ETCS) since COVID-2019 first emerged in Henan Province, beginning in late December 2019. This system was developed for coronavirus care across 126 connected hospitals, serving as the overarching authoritative source for diagnostic decision making and knowledge sharing for treatment. The information shared could rapidly expand to enable open collaborations with key stakeholders such as government authorities, research institutions and laboratories. The experience from building this system during this crisis can provide insights to guide public health institutions as they implement telemedicine to increase resilience to future epidemic outbreaks.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Andreassen, H.K., Kjekshus, L.E., Tjora, A.: Survival of the project: a case study of ICT innovation in health care. Soc. Sci. Med. 132, 62–69 (2015)
Claggett, J.L., Karahanna, E.: Unpacking the structure of coordination mechanisms and the role of relational coordination in an era of digitally mediated work processes. Acad. Manag. Rev. 43(4), 704–722 (2018)
Gittell, J.H.: Rethinking autonomy: relationships as a source of resilience in a changing healthcare system. Health Serv. Res. 51(5), 1701–1795 (2016)
Khosla, N., Marsteller, J.A., Hsu, Y.J., Elliott, D.L.: Analysing collaboration among HIV agencies through combining network theory and relational coordination. Soc. Sci. Med. 150, 85–94 (2016)
Lehoux, P., Sicotte, C., Denis, J.L., Berg, M., Lacroix, A.: The theory of use behind telemedicine: how compatible with physicians’ clinical routines? Soc. Sci. Med. 54(6), 889–904 (2002)
Lipsitch, M., Swerdlow, D.L., Finelli, L.: Defining the epidemiology of Covid-19—studies needed. N. Engl. J. Med. 382(13), 1194–1196 (2020)
May, C., Finch, T., Mair, F., Mort, M.: Towards a wireless patient: chronic illness, scarce care and technological innovation in the United Kingdom. Soc. Sci. Med. 61(7), 1485–1494 (2005)
Nicolini, D.: The work to make telemedicine work: a social and articulative view. Soc. Sci. Med. 62(11), 2754–2767 (2006)
Pappas, Y., Seale, C.: The opening phase of telemedicine consultations: an analysis of interaction. Soc. Sci. Med. 68(7), 1229–1237 (2009)
Phan, L.T., et al.: Importation and human-to-human transmission of a novel coronavirus in Vietnam. N. Engl. J. Med. 382(9), 872–874 (2020)
Wang, Y., Zhang, M., Li, S., Mcleay, F., Gupta, S.: Corporate responses to the coronavirus crisis and their impact on electronic-word-of-mouth and trust recovery: evidence from social media. Br. Jo. Manag. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12497
Williams, A.R., Bisaga, A.: From AIDS to opioids—how to combat an epidemic. N. Engl. J. Med. 375(9), 813–815 (2016)
Zhai, Y., et al.: 5G-network-enabled smart ambulance: architecture, application, and evaluation. IEEE Netw. 35(1), 190–196 (2021)
Zobair, K.M., Sanzogni, L., Sandhu, K.: Expectations of telemedicine health service adoption in rural Bangladesh. Soc. Sci. Med. 238, 112485 (2019)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Zhai, Y. et al. (2021). From Isolation to Coordination: How Can Telemedicine Help Combat the COVID-19 Outbreak?. In: Wang, Y., Wang, W.Y.C., Yan, Z., Zhang, D. (eds) Digital Health and Medical Analytics. DHA 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1412. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3631-8_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3631-8_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-3630-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-3631-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)