Abstract
During the recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, telehealth has received greater attention due to its role in reducing hospital visits from patients with COVID-19 or other conditions, while supporting home isolation in patients with mild symptoms. The needs of patients with chronic diseases tend to be overlooked during the pandemic. With reduced opportunities for routine clinic visits, these patients are adopting various telehealth services such as video consultation and remote monitoring. We advocate for more innovative designs to be considered to enhance patients’ feelings of “copresence”—a sense of connection with another interactant via digital technology—with their health care providers during this time. The copresence-enhanced design has been shown to reduce patients’ anxiety and increase their confidence in managing their chronic disease condition. It has the potential to reduce the patient’s need to reach out to their health care provider during a time when health care resources are being stretched.
Highlights
Given the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, telehealth is being adopted widely in innovative ways, so that patients can access care while maintaining social distancing without risking exposure to and spread of COVID-19
Telehealth for patients with chronic diseases during the pandemic is increasingly important, and we suggest that the innovative adoption of digital technologies can continue to provide valuable patient-clinician communication, for clinical care and for maintaining adherence and behavior changes in patients
We suggest that care providers consider the inclusion of the “copresence” concept, which can be used to enhance the perception of presence and the relationship between patients and clinicians in the telehealth era
Summary
Given the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, telehealth is being adopted widely in innovative ways, so that patients can access care while maintaining social distancing without risking exposure to and spread of COVID-19. Patients with chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease, are at a higher risk of developing serious complications due to COVID-19 and dying [6]; there are concerns that missing usual ongoing care can lead to adverse health outcomes. Telehealth for patients with chronic diseases during the pandemic is increasingly important, and we suggest that the innovative adoption of digital technologies can continue to provide valuable patient-clinician communication, for clinical care and for maintaining adherence and behavior changes in patients. Telehealth can be used to provide more than conventional VC and RPM by building an efficient copresence-enhanced approach to reduce patients’ anxiety while their face-to-face meeting with GPs are reduced It could help relieve stress among health care workers by reducing the need to constantly monitor patients’ health-related data. During the pandemic, where health care resources are centered around the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients, it leaves patients with chronic diseases with a potentially longer feedback loop due to the lack of remote clinical support
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
