Lopez-Villegas, AntonioMaroto-Martin, SalvadorBaena-Lopez, Miguel AngelGarzon-Miralles, AntonioBautista-Mesa, Rafael JesúsPeiro, SalvadorLeal-Costa, Cesar2021-06-142021-06-142020-09-23Lopez-Villegas A, Maroto-Martin S, Baena-Lopez MA, Garzon-Miralles A, Bautista-Mesa RJ, Peiro S, et al. Telemedicine in Times of the Pandemic Produced by COVID-19: Implementation of a Teleconsultation Protocol in a Hospital Emergency Department. Healthcare. 2020 Sep 23;8(4):357.http://hdl.handle.net/10668/3369Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Spain, almost 22% of healthcare professionals have been infected. Among the main causes are exposure during the care of suspected patients and asymptomatic patients, which caused a greater lack of protection in some cases, and to the global shortage of personal protective equipment due to the strong demand for it. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a teleconsultation protocol with patients who had respiratory symptoms in the reduction of the consumption of personal protective equipment (PPE) in a hospital emergency service (HES) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a descriptive and retrospective study that analyzes the implementation of a teleconsultation protocol with patients with respiratory problems treated in the HES at the Hospital de Poniente (Almeria), between 18 March and 30 April 2020. In the selected study period, 5353 patients were treated in the HES of the Hospital de Poniente; of these, 15.43% showed respiratory symptoms and were referred to the Respiratory Circuit, of which 42.2% did so via teleconsultation. Sixty-six cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed, 57.6% were male, and the median age was 71 years old. The main disease related was pneumonia (89.4%), symptoms more frequent were cough (77.3%), fever (77.3%), and dyspnea (60.6%). Lastly, 56.1% of the patients that attended had one or more comorbidities, high blood pressure (53%), and diabetes (36.4%), which became the main risk factors. The results showed that the implementation of teleconsultation in the HES reduced the possibility of infection and allowed for a more efficient consumption of personal protective equipment.10 p.enCOVID-19 diseaseHealth professional securityTeleconsultationTelemedicineEmergenciesInfecciones por coronavirusServicio de urgencia en hospitalTelemedicinaMedical Subject Headings::Diseases::Virus Diseases::RNA Virus Infections::Nidovirales Infections::Coronaviridae Infections::Coronavirus InfectionsMedical Subject Headings::Health Care::Health Care Facilities, Manpower, and Services::Health Services::Emergency Medical Services::Emergency Service, HospitalMedical Subject Headings::Organisms::Eukaryota::Animals::Chordata::Vertebrates::Mammals::Primates::Haplorhini::Catarrhini::Hominidae::HumansMedical Subject Headings::Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment::Investigative Techniques::Epidemiologic Methods::Epidemiologic Study Characteristics as Topic::Epidemiologic Studies::Case-Control Studies::Retrospective StudiesMedical Subject Headings::Health Care::Health Services Administration::Patient Care Management::Delivery of Health Care::Telemedicine::Remote ConsultationMedical Subject Headings::Persons::Persons::Occupational Groups::Health PersonnelMedical Subject Headings::Health Care::Health Care Facilities, Manpower, and Services::Health Facilities::HospitalsMedical Subject Headings::Information Science::Information Science::Communications Media::Telecommunications::TelemedicineMedical Subject Headings::Health Care::Environment and Public Health::Public Health::Disease Outbreaks::Epidemics::PandemicsMedical Subject Headings::Persons::Persons::Age Groups::Adult::AgedMedical Subject Headings::Geographical Locations::Geographic Locations::Europe::SpainMedical Subject Headings::Health Care::Environment and Public Health::Public Health::Epidemiologic Factors::ComorbidityMedical Subject Headings::Health Care::Environment and Public Health::Public Health::Epidemiologic Factors::Causality::Risk Factorsresearch article32977699open access10.3390/healthcare80403572227-9032PMC7712359