Telemedicine and Telehealth in Urology-What Do the 'Patients' Think About It?

Nithesh Naik; B M Zeeshan Hameed; Sanjana Ganesh Nayak; Anshita Gera; Shreyas Raghavan Nandyal; Dasharathraj K Shetty; Milap Shah; Sufyan Ibrahim; Aniket Naik; Nagaraj Kamath; Delaram Mahdaviamiri; Kenisha Kevin D'costa; Bhavan Prasad Rai; Piotr Chlosta; Bhaskar K Somani

doi:10.3389/fsurg.2022.863576

Telemedicine and Telehealth in Urology-What Do the 'Patients' Think About It?

Front Surg. 2022 Apr 15:9:863576. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2022.863576. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Nithesh Naik^{1

2}, B M Zeeshan Hameed^{2

3}, Sanjana Ganesh Nayak⁴, Anshita Gera⁴, Shreyas Raghavan Nandyal⁵, Dasharathraj K Shetty⁶, Milap Shah^{2

7}, Sufyan Ibrahim^{2

8}, Aniket Naik⁸, Nagaraj Kamath⁸, Delaram Mahdaviamiri⁹, Kenisha Kevin D'costa¹⁰, Bhavan Prasad Rai^{2

11}, Piotr Chlosta¹², Bhaskar K Somani^{2

13}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
² iTRUE (International Training and Research in Uro-oncology and Endourology) Group, Manipal, India.
³ Department of Urology, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, India.
⁴ Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
⁵ Gandhi Medical College, Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences, Secunderabad, India.
⁶ Department of Humanities and Management, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
⁷ Robotics and Urooncology, Max Hospital and Max Institute of Cancer Care, New Delhi, India.
⁸ Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
⁹ Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
¹⁰ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
¹¹ Department of Urology, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
¹² Department of Urology, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Kraków, Poland.
¹³ Department of Urology, University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust, Southampton, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Telemedicine is the delivery of healthcare to patients who are not in the same location as the physician. The practice of telemedicine has a large number of advantages, including cost savings, low chances of nosocomial infection, and fewer hospital visits. Teleclinics have been reported to be successful in the post-surgery and post-cancer therapy follow-up, and in offering consulting services for urolithiasis patients. This review focuses on identifying the outcomes of the recent studies related to the usage of video consulting in urology centers for hematuria referrals and follow-up appointments for a variety of illnesses, including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), kidney stone disease (KSD), and urinary tract infections (UTIs) and found that they are highly acceptable and satisfied. Certain medical disorders can cause embarrassment, social exclusion, and also poor self-esteem, all of which can negatively impair health-related quality-of-life. Telemedicine has proven beneficial in such patients and is a reliable, cost-effective patient-care tool, and it has been successfully implemented in various healthcare settings and specialties.

Keywords: COVID-19; patients perspective; telehealth; telemedicine; urology.

Publication types

Review