The Infectious Diseases Society of America highlighted six categories that telemedicine can be applied to help increase access to patient care for infectious diseases, according to the organization's statement published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Here are six use cases for telemedicine that the IDSA supports to expand infectious diseases care:
1. HIV management. Telemedicine and mobile health interventions, such as text messages, can help improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy.
2. Tuberculosis management. An electronic directly observed treatment strategy may help reduce burdens due to time and travel required for standard DOT treatment.
3. Antimicrobial stewardship programs. Telemedicine platforms can be used to provide community hospitals educational opportunities regarding stewardship, provide case consultation and review antimicrobial use with feedback, among other capabilities.
4. Outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy. To reduce the patient's risk of hospital readmission from drug toxicities, new infections and treatment failure, telemedicine-powered OPAT visits can eliminate patients' travel costs, improve outcomes, reduce clinic no-show rates and improve patient satisfaction.
5. Infection prevention and control. Telemedicine platforms may help improve IPC program management by connecting infectious diseases physicians with local providers, which allows the specialist to assist and educate on policy development, healthcare-associated infection surveillance, infection recognition and antibiotic use monitoring, among other capabilities.
6. Connecting providers. Telemedicine models for clinical mentorship can help increase subspecialist care in rural and underserved areas. These types of models can be applied to connect clinicians and non-clinicians, such as case managers and health departments.
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