Background: With restrictions on face to face clinical consultations in the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges faced by health care systems in delivering patient care, alternative information technologies like telemedicine and smartphone are playing a key role.
Aims: We assess the role and applications of smartphone technology as an extension of telemedicine in provide continuity of care to our patients and surveillance during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: We have done a comprehensive review of the literature using suitable keywords on the search engines of PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar and Research Gate in the first week of May 2020.
Results: Through the published literature on this topic, we discuss role, common applications and its support in extended role of telemedicine technology in several aspects of current COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion: Smartphone technology on its own and as extension of telemedicine has significant applications in the current COVID-19 pandemic. As the smartphone technology further evolves with fifth generation cellular network expansion, it is going to play a key role in future of health medicine, patient referral, consultation, ergonomics and many other extended applications of health care.
Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Disease outbreaks; Pandemic; Smartphone; Telemedicine.
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