CSM’s former PhD representative and SBE’s alumnus, Dr Higor Leite, from Federal University of Technology Paraná (UTFPR) in Brazil invited Prof Thorsten Gruber, Director of CSM and Prof Ian R. Hodgkinson, Deputy Director of CSM, to jointly investigate the impact of telemedicine and telehealth on flattening the COVID-19 infection curve. The collaboration resulted in two contemporary articles that were recently published.

In the first article, “‘Healing at a distance’ – Telemedicine and COVID-19”, published by  Public Money & Management, the challenges and opportunities to telemedicine practices during the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed. The article explains how telemedicine can benefit people, medical staff and healthcare systems. One of the main challenges for telemedicine in many countries is the lack of regulations. The authors call on policy-makers to facilitate wider implementation of e-healthcare technologies, while considering issues of inclusiveness, privacy and data protection. The article informs managers about the use of new technologies. Examples are provided of e-healthcare technologies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example in terms of healthcare capacity and providing support to people affected by quarantine.

In the second article, “Flattening the infection curve – understanding the role of telehealth in managing COVID-19”, published by the Leadership and Health Services journal, the strategic role of telehealth technologies in managing the pandemic are discussed. Using a 3 T’s model (Tracking, Testing and Treating), the authors report that using telehealth has proved to be an effective tool to ‘flatten the infection curve’. The authors also advocate that telehealth practices embedded in health-care practices can relieve the pressure that naturally arise during this type of critical event.

Publications:

Leite, H., Hodgkinson, I.R. and Gruber, T. (2020), “New development: ‘healing at a distance’ – telemedicine and COVID-19”, Public Money and Management. Published online: 09 Apr 2020 https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2020.1748855

Leite, H., Gruber, T. and Hodgkinson, I.R. (2019), “Flattening the infection curve – understanding the role of telehealth in managing COVID-19”, Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 221-226. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-05-2020-084