Summary: As of Jan. 1, 2020, primary health care is required to provide teleconsultations for a minimum of two hours per week.
In February, when more cases of COVID-19 were found in Europe, we wondered how to prepare. The “call instead of coming” solution proposed by the Porozumienie Zielonogórskie organization was gradually promoted among patients as well as politicians and in the media. We were already aware that we must defend the functioning of primary health care, which has to provide care to people suffering from chronic diseases when the entire hospital system has been transformed to fight COVID-19. Family medicine was supposed to have a different role in this fight.
On March 4, the first patient with diagnosed coronavirus appeared in Poland. He had just used a teleconsultation with his family doctor.
Finally, the action plan was prepared on Sunday, March 8. An innovative solution in these procedures was the recommendation that every patient in primary care should be admitted first by teleconsultation.
Due to the fact that teleconsultations can be difficult for elderly people living alone and less accustomed to using the phone actively, we started the "call the senior" campaign right after the epidemic began in Poland.
Teleconsultations have proved themselves, so they will stay with us. The difference will be at most in the proportion between teleconsultations and advice during which the patient will be invited to the clinic.
Teleconsultation allows e-prescriptions, e-referrals, e-sick leave certificates, etc., to be issued. Various tools can be used for teleconsultation, e.g. telephone, e-mail, video call or chat.