Introduction: Remote consultations in general practice can be very useful form of telemedicine, which is basically a way to exchange medical information to improve the clinical health of patients when the patient and their general practitioner (GP) are not on the same place at the same time. This concept was developed in the 1980s to provide health care to patients who lived in remote areas.
Methods: We were interested in researching what kind of remote consultations are available in general practice and what is the usage of these methods. We used four keywords - remote consultation and general practice or family medicine or primary care - and we searched in four different scientific databases: Medline-PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and IEEX Xplore.
Results: We used a PRISMA diagram to identify studies and search the four main databases, we investigated 48 full text articles and when we applied our inclusion and exclusion criteria, 12 studies were included in this systematic review.
Conclusions: This systematic review covers the topics of remote consultation versus a traditional or classic physical consultation. Studies have shown its importance prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its value while in the mist of the pandemic then caring for infected patients. We have found that remote consultation is necessary, but it must be an improvement on the previous system. Teleconsultations can reduce the number of visits, especially during lockdown situations, with both patients and GPs satisfied with the method, but we should not forget that a physical consultation cannot be fully replaced by a remote consultation due to the limitations of the latter.
Uvod: Posvet na daljavo v družinski medicini je lahko zelo uporabna oblika telemedicine, ki je v bistvu način za izmenjavo medicinskih informacij za klinično zdravje pacientov, ko pacient in njegov splošni zdravnik nista na istem mestu ob istem času. Ta koncept je bil razvit v osemdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja za zagotavljanje zdravstvene oskrbe pacientom, ki živijo na oddaljenih območjih.
Metode: Zanimalo nas je, katere vrste posvetov na daljavo so na voljo v družinski medicini in v kolikšni meri se te metode uporabljajo. Uporabili smo štiri ključne besede: posvet na daljavo in splošna praksa ali družinska medicina ali primarno zdravstvo, iskali pa smo v štirih različnih znanstvenih bazah podatkov: Medline – PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science in IEEX Xplore.
Rezultati: Za identifikacijo študij in iskanje p o štirih glavnih b azah p odatkov smo u porabili diagram P RISMA, raziskali smo 48 člankov s polnim besedilom in ko smo uporabili naša merila za vključitev in izključitev, je bilo v ta sistematični pregled vključenih 12 študij.
Zaključki: Ta sistematični pregled zajema teme posvetov na daljavo v primerjavi s tradicionalnim ali klasičnim fizičnim pregledom. Študije so pokazale njegov pomen pred pandemijo COVID-19 in njegovo vrednost med oskrbo okuženih bolnikov v megli pandemije. Ugotovili smo, da je posvet na daljavo potreben, vendar mora biti prejšnji sistem izboljšan. Telekonzultacije lahko zmanjšajo število obiskov, zlasti v času popolnega zaprtja države, tako da so tako pacienti kot splošni zdravniki zadovoljni z metodo, vendar ne smemo pozabiti, da fizičnega posveta zaradi njegove omejitve ni mogoče v celoti nadomestiti s posvetom na daljavo.
Keywords: family medicine; general practice; primary care; remote consultation; satisfaction.
© 2022 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia, published by Sciendo.