During the recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, telehealth has received greater attention due to its role in reducing hospital visits from patients with COVID-19 or other conditions, while supporting home isolation in patients with mild symptoms. The needs of patients with chronic diseases tend to be overlooked during the pandemic. With reduced opportunities for routine clinic visits, these patients are adopting various telehealth services such as video consultation and remote monitoring. We advocate for more innovative designs to be considered to enhance patients’ feelings of “copresence”—a sense of connection with another interactant via digital technology—with their health care providers during this time. The copresence-enhanced design has been shown to reduce patients’ anxiety and increase their confidence in managing their chronic disease condition. It has the potential to reduce the patient’s need to reach out to their health care provider during a time when health care resources are being stretched.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus, pandemic, telehealth, remote monitoring, Chronic diseases, copresence, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, Anxiety, hospital, Home isolation, chronic disease, Health, Patient, resource, Care, mild symptoms, connection, ENhance, greater, shown, reduced, reducing, reduce, conditions, patients with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 chronic,