Utilization of telehealth and the advancement of nursing informatics during COVID-19 pandemic

摘要

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented disrup- tion to the world. Soon after the outbreak, there were no effective interventions that could stop the spread of the virus except the implementation of locking down [1], social distancing [2], and wearing masks [3]. Telehealth, which is defined as the provision and management of healthcare services for individuals in their homes, or care support facilitated remotely by healthcare profes- sionals via digital media [4], played an essential role in balancing the care demands between social distancing and providing everyday care services in public. The concept of telehealth was first introduced in 1910 when people first tried to use an ordinary analog telephone network to transmit ECGs and EEGs [5]. With the pandemic, telehealth transformed the model of care and was perceived as more important than ever.