Protocol of A Systematic Review on Telemedicine Solutions in Covid-19 Pandemic

Introduction: on march 20, 2020, the world health organization (who) announced the spread of sarscov2 infection in most countries worldwide as a pandemic. covid19 is mainly disseminated through humantohuman transmission route via direct contact and respiratory droplets. telehealth and/or telemedicine technologies are beneficial methods that could be employed to deal with pandemic situation of communicable infections. the purpose of this proposed systematic review study is to sum up the functionalities, applications, and technologies of telemedicine during covid19 outbreak.material and methods: this review will be carried out in accordance with the cochrane handbook and prisma (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and metaanalyses) reporting guidelines. pubmed and scopus databases were searched for related articles. randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials published in english in scientific journals were identified to be evaluated for eligibility. articles conducted on telemedicine services (tms) during covid19 outbreak (20192020) were identified to be evaluated.results: the literature search for related articles in pubmed and scopus databases led to the identification and retrieval of a total of 1118 and 485 articles, respectively. after eliminating duplicate articles, title and abstract screening process was performed for the remaining 1440 articles. the current study findings are anticipated to be used as a guide by researchers, decision makers, and managers to design, implement, and assess tms during covid19 crisis.conclusion: as far as we know, this systematic review is conducted to comprehensively evaluate tm methods and technologies developed with the aim of controlling and managing covid19 pandemic. this study highlights important applications of telemedicine in pandemic conditions, which could be employed by future health systems in controlling and managing communicable infections when an outbreak occurs.