key: cord-0967774-ioqmif1d authors: Abdalla Siddig, M S; Mustafa, Shameel; Ramzee, Ahmed Faidh; Ahmed, Khalid title: Assessing the role and impact of Telemedicine use in acute care surgery out patient clinic post-operatively, during covid-19 pandemic in Qatar date: 2020-09-09 journal: Br J Surg DOI: 10.1002/bjs.11975 sha: 1d28b660064f99357bd4d3b802808308b7484018 doc_id: 967774 cord_uid: ioqmif1d nan Telemedicine is the delivery of health care services using information or communication technology 1 . It can be classified according to the means of communication (Audio, visual), timing of information transmission (Real time Vs asynchronous), purpose of consult, and the involved healthcare provider 1 . It was the beginning of this year when the COVID-19 started disrupting the global health, where cancellation of surgical services has emerged as one of the results 2 . Many services were re-structured to compensate for the staff shortage, from being shifted to COVID-19 facilities or catching the disease 2,3 . We have read the experience of Low et al in re-structuring the surgical services in Singapore and we acknowledge their experience 4 In Hamad Medical Corporation it was the appropriate time for to find the means to apply preventive measures in practical daily life work when providing healthcare to patients. Hence, the idea of utilizing telemedicine in the post-operative care of acute care surgery patients was adopted in the out-patient clinic. The post-operative patients are listed and approached through phone in a scheduled pattern. Some patients are asked to walk in to the clinic according to their pre-assessed surgical need. The use of telemedicine to follow patient progress remotely after surgery is a new experience in Hamad Medical Corporation. The initial results are encouraging in the form of patient and doctor's satisfaction, saved time and money, and more importantly patient safety monitored by the emergency department visits and readmission rates. However, this needs to be scientifically evaluated. Moreover, its value in decreasing the spread of COVID-19 amongst healthcare staff and the community cross infection needs to be evaluated. None declared by the authors relevant to this article. No funding sought for the writing or publication of this paper. Using Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Immediate and long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delivery of surgical services Rethinking how we care for our patients in a time of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic Restructuring the surgical service during the COVID-19 pandemic: experience from a tertiary institution in Singapore We acknowledge the editor and the editorial team members for their prompt review of the letter.