Telemedicine minimum viable product for post-exposure prophylaxis to biological material in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges for health services. The follow-up of cases of exposure to biological material is regulated by protocols of the Ministry of Health in Brazil. Telemedicine can be useful in maintaining appointments and reducing patient crowding. Objectives: To describe the development and implementation of telemedicine as a minimum viable product to care for victims of exposure to biological material in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a reference service in northeastern Brazil. Methods: Descriptive study of the development of a minimum viable telemedicine product, seeking testimony from those involved and reviewing the script and tools used. Results: The telemedicine system was developed as a minimum viable product and worked asynchronously, being developed by integrating the WhatsApp Business, YouTube and Google Forms platforms and associating them with Excel and Word using database and direct mail tools, in addition to electronic equipment, cell phone, laptop, printer and scanner, and provided the follow-up of 742 cases of exposure to biological material from July 2020 to July 2021. Conclusions: The integration of tools already available on the internet allows a professional outside the field of information technology to develop a minimum viable telemedicine product, aiming to maintain health care and avoid the crowding of patients in outpatient clinics. We suggest the development of a robust tool that integrates several routines for monitoring cases of exposure to biological material.

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