Telemedicine is a general concept that has been discussed in the medical community for a long time, already used in some branches of medicine such as psychiatry, and used in neurology, especially in electrophysiology.
Online neurology telemedicine means practicing medicine remotely via telephone, e-mail, videoconferencing, digital data and other communication technologies. Until today, telemedicine is a telemedicine method that has been used frequently to check the status of follow-up patients, to request examinations, to start and change medication. The Covid-19 pandemic we are currently experiencing requires the rapid development of telemedicine and more frequent use of technologies other than the telephone.
While we recognize that online neurology will never replace the art of medicine in face-to-face consultations, it will be used and developed for a number of patients in the future. In this way, it allows the patient to avoid places such as hospitals that can be a source of infection, especially during epidemic or pandemic periods, to receive better quality service for patients who cannot mobilize, and to recognize urgent needs more quickly.
Telemedicine used in neurological care is often referred to as teleneurology. This method, which is frequently used abroad in emergency stroke and neurological intensive care, has recently been used in diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, dementia and migraine that require long-term treatment. The American Neurological Association, known as AAN, which plays an active role in the neurology community, has a favorable view of teleneurology and has started to go one step further and establish teleneurological examination standards.