Gatekeeping Through Remote Family Physician Consultations in Tertiary University Hospital During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.

: To explore the potential of gatekeeping for specialized consultations and patient care via remote interactions with family physicians. This cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary hospital between November 2020 and December 2021, when specialized consultations were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients who were evaluated for remote consultation with family physicians were included.

Advancing healthcare with artificial intelligence: diagnostic accuracy of machine learning algorithm in diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy in the Brazilian population.

Background: In healthcare systems in general, access to diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening is limited. Artificial intelligence has the potential to increase care delivery. Therefore, we trained and evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of a machine learning algorithm for automated detection of DR.

Utility index and vision-related quality of life in patients awaiting specialist eye care.

Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain utility and vision-related quality of life in patients awaiting access to specialist eye care. A secondary aim was to evaluate the association of utility indices with demographic profile and waiting time.

Methods: Consecutive patients that had been waiting for ophthalmology care answered the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25).

Doubts about the diagnosis and treatment of syphilis in pregnancy among primary care professionals in a telehealth service.

This cross-sectional study aims to describe doubts regarding the diagnosis and treatment of syphilis in pregnancy among primary care professionals in a telehealth service. All teleconsultations (TCs) offered through TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS to primary health care (PHC) services in the state of Rio Grande do Sul between 2018 and 2021 involving syphilis in pregnancy were included. A total of 356 (TCs) were analyzed.

Oral cancer diagnosis communication: Impact of an educational intervention using the SPIKES protocol.

Objective: This study evaluated the influence of a single educational intervention on the perception and knowledge of strategies for communicating oral cancer diagnoses.

Methods: A educational intervention, 72 dentists and 41 dental undergraduates participated in the 'Maio Vermelho Project', a continuing education activity. Participants completed a 14-question online questionnaire concerning their experiences and perceptions of delivering difficult news.

Could Teledentistry Be a Solution in the Diagnosis of Oral Lesions?

In recent years, teledentistry has gained visibility, especially because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Concerning oral medicine, there is great expectation, particularly about its potential to promote early diagnosis of oral lesions. In southern Brazil, two initiatives have shown a positive influence on each other and have led to greater awareness of oral cancer and more access to qualified advice on diagnosing and managing oral lesions.

Clinical Features Associated with the Demand of In-Person Care by Dermatologists: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study.

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Reasons for Provider-to-Provider Synchronous Teleconsultations Between Nurses in Primary Care: A Cross-Sectional Study of TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS Service.

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An international planetary health for primary care massive open online course.

In this Viewpoint we argue that primary care practitioners should receive professional education in how to directly respond to planetary health challenges. We reflect on the provision of a massive open online course (MOOC) on planetary health for primary care practitioners in the context of existing training programmes. We describe the construction, delivery, and certification of a Global South-originated MOOC and explain aspects of its rhizomatic learning theory.

Distance learning course improves primary care dentists' diagnosis and self-efficacy in the management of oral lesions.

Oral cancer represents a public health issue because of its high mortality rate, resulting mainly from diagnostic delays. Insufficient training in oral diagnosis is usually perceived by dentists. Distance learning could be used as an auxiliary tool to bridge that gap.

[TeleOftalmo: strategy to expand the offer of ophthalmologic telediagnostics for primary healthcare in the Southern Brazil].

The use of teleophthalmology may be a viable strategy to track and to diagnose major eye diseases primary health care patients. This study aimed to describe the performance of 30,315 telediagnoses in ophthalmology in primary care patients and the case management of this service. This is a cross-sectional study to evaluate the telediagnosis performed in patients treated at the eight remote points of the TeleOftalmo project from January 2nd, 2018, to December 31st, 2020.

Teaming-up nurses with ophthalmologists to expand the reach of eye care in a middle-income country: Validation of health data acquisition by nursing staff in a telemedicine strategy.

Telemedicine can be used to conduct ophthalmological assessment of patients, facilitating patient access to specialist care. Since the teleophthalmology models require data collection support from other health professionals, the purpose of our study was to assess agreement between the nursing technician and the ophthalmologist in acquisition of health parameters that can be used for remote analysis as part of a telemedicine strategy. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 140 patients referred to an ophthalmological telediagnosis center by primary healthcare doctors.

Telemedicine Versus Face-to-Face Care in Ophthalmology: Costs and Utility Measures in a Real-World Setting.

Objectives: Advances in telemedicine offer a unique opportunity to expand access to the health system. Nevertheless, few studies have described the impact of telediagnosis implementation on health and economic outcomes.

Methods: An ophthalmology telediagnosis service (TeleOftalmo) was compared with traditional face-to-face care provided by the Brazilian public health system.

The management of COVID-19 cases through telemedicine in Brazil.

In Dec 2020 Brazil became one of the worldwide epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 7.2M reported cases. Brazil has a large territory with unequal distribution of healthcare resources including physicians.

The Role of Telehealth in the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Brazilian Experience.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is the third coronavirus to cause severe disease in humans and to spread globally in the past two decades. In this context, several national public health departments, including the Brazilian Ministry of Health, highlighted what was, until then, considered a support service to the health system: telehealth and telemedicine. We intend to present the actions carried out by a national telehealth service in Brazil, both as a Primary Health Care (PHC) support service to professionals and to patients, as well as discussing the potential to reorganize a health system.

Social Distancing, Mask Use, and Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, Brazil, April-June 2020.

We assessed the associations of social distancing and mask use with symptomatic, laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in Porto Alegre, Brazil. We conducted a population-based case-control study during April-June 2020. Municipal authorities furnished case-patients, and controls were taken from representative household surveys.

Teledentistry in the diagnosis of oral lesions: A systematic review of the literature.

Objective: The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize information on the use of teledentistry in the diagnosis of oral lesions.

Materials And Methods: A systematic literature search conducted in August 2018 included articles published until December 2018 in 4 databases. Two reviewers evaluated the search results separately.

Ophthalmic image acquired by ophthalmologists and by allied health personnel as part of a telemedicine strategy: a comparative study of image quality.

Objectives: This study evaluates the quality of ophthalmic images acquired by a nurse technician trained in teleophthalmology as compared with images acquired by an ophthalmologist, in order to provide a better understanding of the workforce necessary to operate remote care programs.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 2044 images obtained from 118 participants of the TeleOftalmo project, in Brazil. Fundus and slit-lamp photography were performed on site by an ophthalmologist and by a nurse technician under the supervision of a remote ophthalmologist.

Perceived usability of a store and forward telehealth platform for diagnosis and management of oral mucosal lesions: A cross-sectional study.

EstomatoNet was created in the south of Brazil to provides specialist support over a web-based platform to primary care dentists for diagnosis of oral lesions. To evaluate the usability of EstomatoNet and to identify user perceptions regarding their expectations and difficulties with the system; and to compare the perceptions of regular users of the service to those of first-time users. Sixteen dentists were selected for the study: 8 were frequent users of EstomatoNet and 8 were residents who had never used the Platform.

Satisfaction of Primary Healthcare Dentists after the Completion of a Distance Learning Course in Pediatric Dentistry.

Background: The aim of the present study was to assess the level of satisfaction of dentists working in primary healthcare (PHC) with a Distance learning (DL) course in pediatric dentistry offered by the TeleHealthRS center, and to the investigate possible associations between the variables indicative of their satisfaction and their performance on the questionnaires applied before and after the course.

Methods: The course was offered in 2015 by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) together with the TeleHealthRS center in Brazil. Data were collected on the participants' personal and professional profile, their pre- and post-course knowledge about pediatric dentistry, and their satisfaction with the course.

Access and regulation of specialized care in Rio Grande do Sul: the RegulaSUS strategy of TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS.

In Primary Health Care (PHC), access, and integrality are strongly influenced by the coordination of care, which in turn receives a positive impact from the articulation of telehealth actions for teleregulation of care. We created a teleregulation method (RegulaSUS Project) based on specific protocols firmly grounded in scientific evidence. From data of the regulatory system and TelessaúdeRS, we explored the effects of RegulaSUS on PHC and access to specialized care.

The use of telemedicine to support Brazilian primary care physicians in managing eye conditions: The TeleOftalmo Project.

Purpose: To determine whether teleophthalmology can help physicians in assessing and managing eye conditions and to ascertain which clinical conditions can be addressed by teleophthalmology in primary care setting.

Methods: We evaluated the resolution capacity of TeleOftalmo, strategy implemented in the public health system of southern Brazil. Resolution capacity was defined as the ability to fully address patients' eye complaints in primary care with remote assistance from ophthalmologists.

Telemedicine in the driver's seat: new role for primary care access in Brazil and Canada: The Besrour Papers: a series on the state of family medicine in Canada and Brazil.

Objective: To contrast how Brazil's and Canada's different jurisdictional and judicial realities have led to different types of telemedicine and how further scale and improvement can be achieved.

Composition Of The Committee: A subgroup of the Besrour Centre of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and Canadian telemedicine experts developed connections with colleagues in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and collaborated to undertake a between-country comparison of their respective telemedicine programs.

Methods: Following a literature review, the authors collectively reflected on their experiences in an attempt to explore the past and current state of telemedicine in Canada and Brazil.