Telemedicine in Disaster Medicine: Strengthening Access, Coordination, and Resilience Amid Global Crises

Disasters, armed conflicts, disease outbreaks, climate-related emergencies, and large-scale population displacement place extraordinary pressure on health systems. These events can damage health infrastructure, disrupt supply chains, displace healthcare professionals, and create sudden increases in demand for emergency services. In such contexts, telemedicine can extend clinical expertise beyond geographical and operational barriers, supporting timely, coordinated, and equitable care when local resources and physical access to health facilities are severely limited. Although its use has expanded across disaster, emergency, and humanitarian settings, important questions remain regarding its clinical effectiveness, reliability, safety, scalability, and contribution to health-system resilience. Evidence from recent emergencies suggests that remote triage, virtual specialist consultation, tele–intensive care, remote diagnostic support, patient monitoring, and digital mental health services can strengthen continuity of care and decision-making. However, implementation remains uneven, particularly in settings affected by conflict, forced migration, geographic isolation, damaged infrastructure, and shortages of trained healthcare personnel. Further research is needed to identify the conditions under which telemedicine can be integrated effectively into disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.This Research Topic aims to explore the evolving role of telemedicine in disaster, emergency, and humanitarian medicine. It welcomes research examining how digital communication technologies can support preparedness, immediate response, early recovery, and longer-term health-system resilience across diverse geographical, socioeconomic, and clinical settings. Contributions should provide concrete examples of telemedicine implementation during emergencies and critically evaluate its effects on clinical outcomes, decision-making, response times, continuity of care, resource allocation, patient safety, and health equity. The Research Topic also seeks to examine the technological, organizational, ethical, and regulatory conditions required for effective deployment, including resilient telecommunications infrastructure, satellite and mobile connectivity, interoperability, data protection, cybersecurity, professional licensing, reimbursement, clinical governance, and integration into disaster preparedness plans. Studies addressing usability, workforce training, cultural and linguistic adaptation, sustainability, scalability, cost-effectiveness, and collaboration between public health authorities, healthcare institutions, technology providers, emergency medical services, and humanitarian agencies are particularly encouraged.To gather further insights into the use of telemedicine across disaster preparedness, emergency response, humanitarian operations, and recovery, this Research Topic welcomes articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:o Telemedicine for disaster preparedness, risk reduction, and emergency planning.o Remote triage, clinical decision-making, and referral coordination during disasters.o Tele–intensive care, tele-emergency medicine, and remote specialist consultation.o Remote interpretation of diagnostic images, laboratory results, and other clinical data.o Patient monitoring, continuity of care, and chronic disease management in crisis settings.o Telemedicine for conflict-affected populations, forcibly displaced people, and humanitarian emergencies.o Digital mental health and psychosocial support during and after disasters.o Satellite, mobile, and other resilient connectivity solutions for disrupted health systems.o Interoperability, cybersecurity, data protection, ethics, and clinical governance.o Workforce training, usability, cultural and linguistic adaptation, sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and health equity in telemedicine deployment. Topic editors: César Leal-Costa, Manuel Pardo Ríos, Verónica V. Márquez-Hernández Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84623/telemedicine-in-disaster-medicine-strengthening-access-coordination-and-resilience-amid-global-crises