Creation and Expansion of a Virtual COVID-19 Information Exchange Platform Using the Brazilian University Telemedicine Network (RUTE)

JOURNAL TITLE: Panamerican Journal of Trauma, Critical Care & Emergency Surgery

Author
1. Gustavo P Fraga
2. David Cirigussi
3. Evelyn Eisenstein
4. Felipe A Fraga
5. Max P Moraes
6. Luiz A Messina
7. Denise de C M Zornoff
8. Cristiane Kopacek
ISSN
DOI
10.5005/jp-journals-10030-1291
Volume
9
Issue
3
Publishing Year
2020
Pages
6
Author Affiliations
    1. University of Taubaté (UNITAU), Taubate, São Paulo, Brazil
    1. University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    1. RUTE, Brazilian Telemedicine University Network, Institutional Relations in Health, National Research and Education Network (RNP), Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, Brazil
    1. RUTE, Brazilian Telemedicine University Network, Institutional Relations in Health, National Research and Education Network (RNP), Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, Brazil
    1. Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
    1. Pedagogical Support Nucleus, Botucatu Medical School—UNESP, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil
    1. School of Medical Sciences (SMS), University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
    1. Division of Trauma Surgery, School of Medical Sciences (SMS), University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
  • Article keywords

    Abstract

    Introduction: Due to Brazil’s alarming situation, Brazilian professionals decided to create a Special Interest Group about coronavirus disease-2019 (SIG COVID-19 Brazil RUTE—the Brazilian University Telemedicine Network) with the objective of promoting training sessions by web conference for professional and medical students. Aim and objective: To describe the experience of rapidly organizing this professional network based on telemedicine activity and share its initial results. Materials and methods: The structure adopted was MConf, a web conference platform that provides a virtual conference channel for 75 active participants and online video streaming for an additional unlimited number of attendees. The agenda started with meetings occurring 3 times a week, which were changed to weekly encounters in July, and are scheduled to be monthly in August. The interactive presentations lasted 30–40 minutes, with approximately 20 minutes for written or spoken debate. After each presentation, all participants were invited to register their presence and answer brief evaluation questions about the quality of the presentation, with an evaluation score ranging from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent). Results: From March 23 to June 30, 2020, forty-one web conferences were presented in the areas of epidemiology, medicine (different specialties), nursing, physiotherapy, dentistry, and new technologies, with the participation of 52 speakers from 12 Brazilian states and 12 international guest speakers from 9 countries: Israel, Italy, United States of America, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Canada, Ecuador, and Qatar. The program had in its coverage 2,170 registrations by 857 participants from 135 distinct institutions. The conference’s attendance average reached up to 100 participants. Around 60% of the attendees answered the program’s quality survey; the average evaluation score for quality of transmission, professional contribution; and topic relevance were 9.0, 9.5, and 10, respectively. Conclusion: The experience of working with telemedicine was determinant to create the innovative SIG COVID-19 Brazil RUTE, providing an important learning experience on diagnosis, treatments, and outcomes for the COVID-19 crisis management.

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