Clinical signs, telemedicine and online consultations in head and neck diseases during the SARS CoV-2 pandemic: an Italian experience

SUMMARY Objective. The aim of this paper is to describe the application of a telemedicine (TM) syn-chronous model designed to deliver care during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to patients with head and neck disease. Methods. The first step was to identify the classes of patients eligible for tele-examination. Mild, flu-like symptomatology represents the characteristics of the typical patient who is a candidate for tele-examination. The standard requirements for TM include a computer associated with a digital camera, alternatively a smartphone or tablet. The TM platform is based on the Lifesize™ software, which can be freely downloaded. Results. The overall number of teleconsultations was 178, of which 163 (91.5%) were man-aged at home, while 15 (8.5%) were invited for in-presence examination. The number of patients coming from general practitioners was 98 (55.1%), from spoke units 52 (29.2%), patients needing prompt stabilisation and transfer to the hub centre were 20 (11.2%,) while 8 (4.5%) were immediately fast-tracked in the spoke unit after multi-professional tele-con-sultation. Conclusions. Telemedicine improves organisational models, and provides a scalable solu-tion to overcome problems of overcrowding, resources and time. Should these develop-ments continue, we could face to a gradual transition to a more digital and efficient health-care system.