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Figure 1 | BMC Health Services Research

Figure 1

From: Estimating travel reduction associated with the use of telemedicine by patients and healthcare professionals: proposal for quantitative synthesis in a systematic review

Figure 1

Example of avoided travel. The data represent the results of a hypothetical study in which 100 patients were seen by a dermatologist in hospital, and 100 patients were seen by a dermatologist using telemedicine. In both groups, 5% of the patients were considered to have been referred inappropriately (e.g. because the underlying skin problem had resolved by the time they were seen by the specialist). In the telemedicine group, 60 of the patients were managed successfully by telemedicine but 35 still required a conventional appointment. The effect of telemedicine could be considered as avoiding travel for 60% of those in the telemedicine group, although it could also be argued that the proportion was slightly higher (60 out of 95 appropriate referrals).

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