Role of telemedicine in prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19: The experience of a grade-A tertiary hospital

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been a serious shortage of medical resources in Hubei province, especially in Wuhan and other hard-hit areas. As a rush of doctors and nurses arrived in Hubei, the Telemedicine Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital has also provided timely telemedical services to help the doctors and nurses in epidemic area diagnose and treat the COVID-19 patients appropriately. As of Feb 20th, a total of 114 remote consultations have been performed to 91 COVID-19 patients from 29 hospitals. Among the 84 critically ill patients followed up, 52.38% have been recovered and 33.33% have been improved significantly. Meanwhile, 9 remote training courses focusing on COVID-19 prevention and control techniques are launched to more than 100 military hospitals, and more than 20, 000 military medical staffs are involved. Telemedicine plays a positive and important role in the prevention, control and treatment of the COVID-19. By which, the highly qualified medical services can be provided quickly to the remote areas regardless of geographical restrictions. It reduces the risk of infection of virus in medical staffs effectively. With the popularization and application of 5G and AI technology, telemedicine will have a broader application prospect.