Hospitals and health centers that already had units specialized in telehealth and telemedicine before the COVID-19 pandemic crisis have supported the public health system to endure the situation.
In early 2020, the University of Antioquia (UdeA), presented in partnership with Nueva EPS (Health Promoter Entity) and the IPS Universitaria (Promoting Services Institute), a telehealth project, initially focused on a teleurgency model to improve patient care and decongest the hospital services of 1st and 2rd level emergency.
The project was developed by LivingLab, the telemedicine unit of the University's Faculty of Medicine. To measure the impact of the project they conducted a pilot test in Urabá, which consisted of providing care to ten patients through teleurgencies.
The system involves patients with doubts about their diagnosis requesting medical personnel through New EPS, then LivingLab's urgencies analyze the patient's medical history through ICT to determine whether it is necessary to take the patient to a specialized hospital.
Now, following the health emergency by COVID-19 in Colombia, LivingLab members in their Telehealth modality give academic seminars for students of the Faculty of Medicine, who collaborate on the digital health strategies implemented by the UdeA.
These are two programs, focused on medical management, which includes topics such as clinical generalities and structure of care in telemedicine to patients with suspected COVID-19 or patients confirmed with outpatient treatment.
Moreover, in mid-March, about 100 members of the Community of the Faculty of Medicine formed a team of first responders of Antioquia's Telemedicine strategy for the care of patients suspected of COVID-19, to establish filters and detect cases and thus prevent the spread of the virus. The group settled for teachers, internal physicians and technicians in UdeA Pre-Hospital Care.
In addition, the UdeA has enabled telephone lines for mental health care during the emergency, targeting both the general community and health staff.
