Telemedicine use in neonatal follow-up programs - What can we do and what we can't - Lessons learned from COVID-19

Area of Science:

• Neonatal care
• Telemedicine
• Pediatric follow-up

Background:

• Limited data exist on telemedicine for preterm and high-risk infant follow-up.
• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid telemedicine adoption for essential care.
• Neonatal follow-up programs faced challenges in providing continuous care post-discharge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss institutional experience with rapid telemedicine implementation in a neonatal follow-up program.
• To identify benefits and limitations of telemedicine in this context.
• To outline challenges for optimizing telemedicine for high-risk infant care.

Main Methods:

• Review of institutional experience with telemedicine implementation.
• Discussion of benefits and limitations observed.
• Analysis of current challenges and future directions.

Main Results:

• Telemedicine was rapidly implemented in a multi-site neonatal follow-up program.
• Benefits included continued access to care during the pandemic.
• Limitations and challenges for comprehensive care were identified.

Conclusions:

• Telemedicine proved crucial for maintaining essential follow-up care for high-risk infants.
• Further development is required to optimize telemedicine for multidisciplinary, comprehensive infant care.
• Addressing current problems is key to maximizing telemedicine's potential in neonatal follow-up.