Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 17, 2025
Digital Home-Monitoring of Patients after Kidney Transplantation: The MACCS Platform
Published on: April 12, 2021
Systematic review of telemedicine in pediatric urology
Samuel Pettit1, Ezekiel Young2, Ichabod Jung2
1University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, 11 Hills Beach Rd, Biddeford, ME, 04005, USA.
Insights
Telemedicine can expand access to pediatric urology care. This systematic review found that telemedicine is safe, effective, and satisfactory for patients and clinicians, supporting its wider adoption.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Urology
- Health Services Research
- Digital Health
Background:
- Telemedicine has been available for over a decade but adoption by pediatric urologists remains limited.
- Understanding the optimal role, benefits, and barriers of telemedicine is crucial for its integration into pediatric urology practices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and clarify the optimal role of telemedicine in pediatric urology.
- To evaluate the benefits, barriers, risks, and considerations for telemedicine adoption in this field.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review following PRISMA guidelines, searching PubMed using MeSH terms.
- Included studies discussing telemedicine in pediatric urology, excluding non-complete manuscripts or papers where telemedicine was not a primary focus.
- Screened 73 articles from PubMed search and 21 additional articles, with 17 meeting inclusion criteria.
Main Results:
- 17 papers met inclusion criteria, with evidence quality varying across study types.
- Telemedicine in pediatric urology demonstrated improved patient access, satisfaction for families and clinicians, safety, and equivalent outcomes.
- The reviewed studies represent over 1851 virtual encounters and 409 in-person encounters.
Conclusions:
- Expanded implementation of telemedicine in pediatric urology is recommended.
- Telemedicine offers a practical and safe method to enhance patient access, satisfaction, and maintain clinical outcomes.
- Evidence supports telemedicine as a valuable tool in pediatric urology care delivery.
Introduction:
Telemedicine has bridged the distance gap between patients and pediatric urologists for over a decade, yet many pediatric urologists have not embraced it as a major part of their practice. The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate and clarify the optimal role of telemedicine in pediatric urology, as well as the benefits, barriers, risks, and other important considerations that must be accounted for in its optimal adoption.
Methods:
Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this systematic review utilized Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to search PubMed through April 29, 2021 as follows: (Humans [MeSH]) AND ((Child [MeSH]) OR (Infant [MeSH])) AND ((Remote Consultation [MAJR]) OR (Telemedicine [MAJR]) OR (Videoconferencing [MAJR]) OR (Health Services Accessibility [MAJR])) AND ((Urology [MAJR]) OR (Postoperative Care [MAJR]) OR (Urologic Surgical Procedures [MAJR])). 73 resulting articles, plus 21 from manual searches (e.g. papers too recent to have MeSH terms), were screened. 17 met inclusion criteria by discussing telemedicine in context of pediatric urology in a full manuscript. Non-complete manuscripts and papers not specifically considering pediatric urology, or in which telemedicine was not a major focus, were excluded.
Results:
17 papers met inclusion criteria. Varied approaches to the topic included surveys, controlled studies, retrospective studies, and descriptive opinion pieces. Quality of evidence varied, representing at least 1851 virtual encounters, 409 in-person encounters, and 68 clinician opinions. Four papers included a comparison or control group, and none utilized randomization. All 17 papers support expanded application of telemedicine in pediatric urology with varied evidence that telemedicine improves patient access to pediatric urologic care, satisfies both patient families and clinicians, is safe, provides equivalent outcomes, and is practicable.
Conclusions:
Implementation of telemedicine in pediatric urology should be expanded as it can practicably and safely improve patient access to pediatric urologic care, satisfy both patient families and clinicians, and maintain outcomes.
Related Concept Videos
01:26Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Drug Excretion
01:24Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Drug Metabolism
01:28Urologic Endoscopic Procedure: Cystoscopic Examination