Mobile telehealth system used in China to enable clinical communication during COVID-19

A mobile telehealth system (MTS) has been used in a hospital in China where COVID-19 patients were treated in isolation wards set off from other healthcare providers. This just-published paper provides a full description of the MTS, its components, and how it maintains the security of patient information.

The MTS was able to overcome the problem that patient information stored in the hospital intranet was not available to the staff working in isolated COVID-19 wards. The MTS enabled sharing of patient information among clinicians without compromising the security of patient information.

Telemedicine innovations like this one are rapidly being developed worldwide. China has been able to contain COVID-19 in part by isolating individuals and using telehealth and telemedicine to support care between providers and patients using a mobile health application."

Charles R. Doarn, MBA, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal and Research Professor and Director of the Master of Public Health Program, Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Ohio

"Telemedicine applications are growing enormously" said Mary Ann Liebert, president of the publishing company that bears her name. "They will be a necessity as healthcare communities grapple with new challenges such as coronavirus. Telemedicine and e-Health has been the journal of record for 26 years."