Teleconsultation and Clinical Decision Making: a Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Health Services Research
• Digital Health

Background:

• Teleconsultation aims to bridge geographical and functional gaps between healthcare providers.
• Physician-physician teleconsultations are crucial for remote medical support.
• Analyzing these consultations provides insights into healthcare delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and analyze physician-physician teleconsultations.
• To identify trends and impacts of teleconsultation in medical practice.
• To assess the current state and identify areas for improvement in teleconsultation.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of the PubMed database (January 2015, updated December 2015).
• Inclusion criteria applied to 1702 records, resulting in 174 full-text articles.
• Data extraction and analysis using an online Zotero library.

Main Results:

• Teleconsultations were prevalent in surgery (adults) and general medicine (pediatrics).
• Non-specialists frequently requested teleconsultations, primarily for inland cases (USA, Italy, Australia).
• Teleconsultation positively impacted treatment plans, diagnosis, referrals, and decision-making, with varied technology use (real-time, store-and-forward, hybrid).

Conclusions:

• Physician-physician teleconsultations demonstrate positive impacts on patient management.
• Despite benefits, current teleconsultation practices have identified areas needing further development.
• Focus on recent literature highlights ongoing evolution and persistent challenges in teleconsultation.