Search

Copyright of Der Schmerz is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The SARS-CoV‑2 pandemic posed unexpected challenges for hospitals worldwide and in addition to the supply emergency, simultaneously caused a high pressure to innovate. Due to the high number of cases of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care, structured networking of hospitals gained particular importance. The tele-ICU communication platform TeleCOVID was developed to improve the quality of intensive care both by enabling teleconsultations and by supporting patient transfers. Objective: The present study aimed to survey user experiences with TeleCOVID. The study investigated the extent to which the app is used, the user experiences of the participating hospitals, and the resulting implications for the further development of the telemedicine application. Material and methods: A user survey was conducted in May 2022 using an online questionnaire. The survey contained both closed and open questions with a free text field. It was sent via the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration (HMSI). All 135 hospitals in Hesse were contacted by e‑mail and invited to participate in the study. The results of the closed questions were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and the results of the open questions were clustered and thematically summarized using qualitative content analysis. Results: The study showed that TeleCOVID was used primarily for transfer requests, followed by the need for a treatment consultation without a transfer request. Most often, ECMO treatment or treatment in a hospital of a higher care level was required. The content analysis showed that users particularly rated the possibility of a data protection-compliant and structured transfer of patient data as advantageous. It is also worth mentioning that in almost 25% of the cases a transfer of patients could be prevented by TeleCOVID. Disadvantages frequently mentioned by respondents were the lack of connection to the electronic hospital information system, the increased time required for the registration process, and the poor primary accessibility of contact persons. Conclusion: In a further development of the application the connection to the electronic hospital information system should be considered particularly urgent. In addition, the time expenditure should be reduced by a simplified login process. Due to interface barriers, an alternative data infrastructure would also be conceivable to create interoperability. The introduction of a web client could also increase usability. The main beneficiaries of hospital networking are physicians and patients in a context associated with a high workload and specific medical issues. Continuation and expansion of the app to intensive care medicine and beyond are therefore recommended. In further studies on the project, personal interviews with decision makers could be useful to conduct a more targeted needs analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Rheumatologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Rheumatologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Die Urologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Der Unfallchirurg is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Der Ophthalmologe is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Epileptologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: During the restrictions on human contact in the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing homes made a great effort to allow relatives, doctors and other persons involved in the care to communicate with residents. For this purpose, the HLTeleheim project offered a practical telemedical support option. This offer was accepted and implemented in a heterogeneous way. The aim of this study was to detect factors that have an influence on the implementation of telemedical applications in long-term care facilities., Methods: As part of a qualitative evaluation approach, guideline-centered interviews (n=17) were conducted with nurses, doctors and administrative staff from the facilities invited to participate in the project. These interviews were then transcribed and anonymized. The evaluation was carried out according to Mayring's qualitative analysis. The code system was created deductively and inductively. Two independently working persons analyzed the interviews., Results: While a high demand for applications of telemedicine in nursing care was seen in the run-up to the project, considerable barriers emerged during the implementation, and acceptance among the interviewees was mixed. The nurses regarded the regular use of telemedicine as being rather unimportant for their work. Technical and organizational problems were seen as barriers by the interviewees, which partly limited the use of telemedicine applications. Compatibility among the applications used was seen as a prerequisite of effective use. Unstable internet connection was an important limiting determinant. It turned out that consultations were used for communication within the team., Discussion: Although the advantages of video consultations are being recognized among nursing staff, they are still little used. In order to promote the use of telemedicine applications, it is important to repeatedly point out their individual advantages in internal and external communication. Another approach to further implementation, in addition to financial and technical aspects, is to directly address the nursing profession in the software products to be used., Conclusion: The implementation of telemedicine applications in long-term care facilities faces structural barriers, such as insufficient internet coverage and a lack of billing options, as well as personal hurdles, such as a low affinity for technology and a lack of knowledge on the subject of telemedicine., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Introduction: Remote consultations through phone or video are gaining in importance for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain across a range of health care providers. However, there is a plethora of technical options for practitioners to choose from, and there are various challenges in the adaptation of clinical processes as well as several special considerations regarding regulatory context and patient management. Practitioners are faced with a lack of high-quality peer-reviewed resources to guide the planning and practical implementation of remote consultations., Objectives: This Clinical Update seeks to provide practical guidance for the planning and implementation of remote consultations for the management and treatment of people with musculoskeletal pain., Methods: Recommendations are based on a brief overview of the relevant research regarding phone and video consultations for musculoskeletal practice and derived from the literature, relevant guidelines, and practical experience., Results: The technical feasibility of remote consultations for musculoskeletal complaints is good, patient satisfaction is high, and a growing body of evidence supports its comparative effectiveness to in-person consultations in some circumstances for improving pain and functioning. We consider in detail practical aspects such as the choosing of hardware and software, we touch on the legal and regulatory context, and we focus on the adaptation of clinical processes and communication., Conclusion: This Clinical Update draws together best-practice evidence in a practically applicable format, enabling therapists who are working with people with pain to directly apply this knowledge to their individual clinical settings and the requirements of their patients., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

Background: The currently disseminating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and limited capacities in outpatient rheumatological care, pose questions about possible alternatives to clinical visits, also in view of the digital revolution. It is unclear whether and to what extent patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases are willing and in a position to deal with the new media, such as video consultation., Methods: In the middle of the pandemic in May 2020 outpatients were surveyed using a standardized questionnaire in order to document their possibilities and willingness to participate in a video consultation. The treating physicians were asked whether carrying out a video consultation was considered to be a possible and meaningful option., Results: Overall, 232 patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases were surveyed (64.7% female, average age 54.0 ± 15.2 years), seropositive (n = 58) and seronegative (n = 51) rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondyloarthritis (SpA, n = 77) including axial SpA (axSpA) and psoriatic arthropathy (PsA) as well as collagenosis and vasculitis (CoV, n = 46). The mean duration of disease was 5.5 ± 8.2 years, whereby in 75 patients (32.3%) it was the first diagnosis. The mean disease activity (0-10, subjective patient self-estimation) was 4.7 ± 2.5. Overall, 176 patients were basically aware of the possibility to carry out video consultations (75.9%) and 166 considered that they were technically capable to participate (71.6%) but only 131 were principally willing to participate (56.5%). Logistic regression analyses showed that the willingness to participate in video consultations decreased with increasing age (β = 0.28, p = 0.01). According to the medical estimation video consultations were thought to be principally possible for 161 patients for technical reasons (69.4%) and for 127 for medical reasons (54.7%); however, a video consultation within the framework of treatment was only considered to be meaningful by the physician for 76 patients (32.8%)., Conclusion: Not all patients can or want to participate in video consultations and the willingness declines with increasing age. The estimation of the meaningfulness of video consultations by physicians was also limited to approximately one third of the patients surveyed. This must be taken into consideration for the future planning of video consultations., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Introduction: In order to successfully integrate telemedicine into the daily routine of rheumatology, both the patient's and the physician's perspective are important. For this purpose, a detailed study by means of a web-based survey was conducted by the Working Group Young Rheumatology (AGJR) of the German Society for Rheumatology (DGRh) and the German Rheumatism League National Association. By means of subgroup analysis of the data regarding video consultation, the aim was now to find out which requirements and wishes patients and physicians have for video consultations., Methods: The prospective survey was distributed via social media, QR code and email. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis related to video consultation were performed and correlations were shown., Results: The data indicated positive attitudes toward video consultation on the part of both patients (n = 299) and rheumatologists (n = 129). A correlation between age and positive opinion of the video consultation was found among the patients (r = 0.161, p = 0.006), especially among female patients a positive approval of the video consultation was found with increasing age (r = 0.244, p < 0.001 to male patients: r = -0.190, p = 0.145). Regarding the travelling time to the treating rheumatologist, male patients found the video consultation more attractive with increasing travelling time (r = 0.229, p = 0.078). With respect to the wishes of patients and physicians, video consultation should be used primarily for follow-up or emergency appointments. Video consultation for initial appointments, on the other hand, was very rarely mentioned., Conclusion: During the COVID 19 pandemic, video consultation was increasingly popular among rheumatology patients as well as among rheumatologists., (© 2021. Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

Background: Digitalization of patient documentation and introduction of the electronic patient record (ePA) pose challenges to everyday clinical practice., Objectives: We investigated the acceptance and status of the digitalization of patient data and the introduction of the ePA among German urologists., Materials and Methods: A questionnaire with 30 questions about the acceptance and status of digitalization of patient documentation and ePA was sent out via the newsletter of the German Society of Urology., Results: A total of 80 urologists participated in the survey (response rate 2%). Digital platforms such as Urotube or Researchgate are used by 63% of participants. The complete implementation of digital patient documentation was reported by 72% of respondents working in medical practice and by 54% of those working in the hospital (p = 0.042). While 76% see the digitalization process as reasonable, 34% expressed partial or strong concerns about the complete digitalization of patient documentation. Only 14% of the participants offer video consultations. Advantages for ePA include better networking of the healthcare system (73%), improved diagnosis, indication (41%) and treatment quality (48%), and avoidance of medication errors (70%)., Conclusion: German urologists are open to the digitalization process and ePA. Especially younger urologists are using digital media. The advantages of digitalization are, in particular, an improvement in treatment processes. For a smooth introduction, a cross-departmental establishment and, if necessary, an adaptation of the treatment processes are necessary., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: With the regulation of the Saxon State Government and the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Responsibility on the modification of the Infection Protection Act of March 2020 coming into force, a video-based outpatient consultation was implemented to maintain patient care. In order to allow communication with minimized contact, this was continued after the lockdown., Aim of the Work: The aim of this prospective pilot study was to assess the effectiveness of a video-based outpatient consultation service, technical feasibility and control of patient flow under both lockdown and post-lockdown conditions., Material and Methods: The initial evaluation was conducted up to 14 December 2020 when the second restrictive measures were implemented by the state government. The quality of the connections regarding sound and image was documented. Furthermore, the consequences of the conversations were documented. Distinctions were made in four categories: 1. no follow-up visit, 2. follow-up via video consultation, 3. operative intervention and 4. in-person follow-up visit for clinical examination., Results: There were 236 video-based outpatient consultations, 182 (82%) consultations were without restrictions and 47 (21%) consultations were initial presentations. There were no follow-up consultations in 41 (18%) patients. Video-based follow-up was scheduled in 36 (16%) patients, direct referral for surgery in 36 (16%) patients, and in-person follow-up in 105 (47%) patients., Discussion: In 40% of the patients a definite decision could be made by the initial video-based consultation alone. On the other hand, 47% of the patients needed in-person follow-up for a clinical examination. Thus, video consultation is a very useful measure to manage patient volume and visibly support direct doctor-patient contact., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic access to and utilization of ophthalmologic healthcare providers was partially restricted., Objective: This article provides an overview of already available tele-ophthalmologic applications for better care during the pandemic as well as those still under development., Material and Methods: The study included an analysis of current scientific publications, analysis of unrestricted screening applications in smart device app stores as well as telemetric medical products specifically designed for home monitoring and discussion of the requirements of an integrated ophthalmologic video consultation., Results: There is significant interest in tele-ophthalmologic applications and devices as evidenced by a rise in the number of relevant publications. Freely available screening tests for smart phones and tablets are as a rule currently not validated and show significant discrepancies from established standard tests. Telemetric medical devices show great potential for home monitoring in chronic ophthalmologic diseases but must first become established in the clinical routine., Conclusion: There is an unmet need for systematic analysis, development and validation of telemedical applications and medical products for ophthalmology in order to advantageously utilize the potential of telemedicine and to incorporate this into an ophthalmologic video consultation., (© 2021. Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

Introduction: About 35,000 people in Germany suffered from stroke-related aphasia in 2019. One of the most frequent manifestations of aphasia are word finding disorders. In times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the temporary approval of video therapy enables the maintenance of speech therapy treatment. This leads to the necessity to investigate the effectiveness of screen-to-screen therapy via a video conferencing system compared to conventional face-to-face therapy of adult aphasia patients., Methods: For this scoping review, a literature search in the databases Cochrane, Pubmed and Web of Science was conducted for the period February 2010 to 2020. We included German- and English-language studies comparing the effectiveness of a classic face-to-face therapy with a screen-to-screen therapy of adults with aphasia. The studies were selected using the PRISMA flowchart., Results: A total of five studies were identified. Both face-to-face therapy and screen-to-screen therapy showed significant improvements in naming performance in an Italian crossover study, a Canadian randomized study and a quasi-randomized study conducted in the UK. No improvements were found for both forms of intervention in an Israeli crossover study. In a German comparative study, significant improvements in naming performance were found for face-to-face therapy, but the results did not differ significantly from the screen-to-screen therapy intervention group., Discussion: In all included studies, screen-to-screen therapy and face-to-face therapy had a comparable effectiveness on naming performance. The results demonstrate the feasibility of a screen-to-screen therapy under everyday conditions. However, it is possible that this form of therapy cannot always be implemented. Barriers to screen-to-screen therapy can be the use of technologies and restrictions in the visual field due to a neglect. One limitation of the scoping review was that only the naming performance was considered as an outcome, another was the small number of studies included., Conclusion: For many patients screen-to-screen therapy is currently the only possibility to receive speech therapy treatment. Therefore it is a positive aspect that screen-to-screen therapy is as effective as face-to-face therapy. Screen-to-screen therapy can provide expanded access to health care and professional expertise in health services. In this way, speech therapy care during the COVID-19 pandemic can be largely maintained. Further research is needed on evidence-based treatment methods and user-oriented apps for video therapy., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)