{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T08:17:18Z","timestamp":1788164238872,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"Ubiquity Press, Ltd.","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788134400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["89"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: In early 2021, Lebanon\u2019s second COVID\u201119 wave coincided with financial collapse, health\u2011workforce emigration, and the aftermath of the August 2020 Beirut port explosion, leaving hospitals saturated and many households unable to afford routine medical advice.\nObjectives: To describe the design, utilization, disposition outcomes, supervisory escalation, and direct operational cost of a free phone\u2011based telemedicine clinic rapidly deployed through an academic\u2013nongovernmental organization (NGO) partnership, and to identify transferable lessons for other crisis\u2011affected, resource\u2011constrained settings.\nMethods: Beirut Arab University Healthcare Center and the Federation of Businessmen for Support and Development (IRADA), a national NGO, launched a free 24\u2011hour, 7\u2011day\u2011a\u2011week phone\u2011based telemedicine clinic staffed by 40 medical interns and residents using a standardized COVID\u201119 management protocol under a two\u2011tier supervision model, with on\u2011call family physicians reachable throughout each shift. WhatsApp voice calls were offered to provide free access, and missed calls were returned by the on\u2011call responder. We retrospectively analyzed the de\u2011identified records of all consultations managed during 14 weeks (February 2 to May 11, 2021); disposition categories were derived from the free\u2011text recommendations using a rule\u2011based classifier.\nFindings: The service managed 2953 consultations from all Lebanese governorates. After clinical assessment and safety\u2011netting, 90.1% of consultations were managed outside hospitals at the point of consultation, 7.8% were referred to the emergency department, and 2.0% to primary care. The on\u2011call family physician was consulted in 6.6% of consultations, concentrated on the highest\u2011acuity calls (16.5% of emergency department referrals). The overnight window carried 3.7% of consultations but a higher emergency department referral proportion (12.8%). Direct operational cost was USD11,032 (USD3.74 per consultation), excluding non\u2011monetary university contributions.\nConclusions: An academic\u2013NGO partnership, a standardized triage protocol, and tiered supervision can mobilize a trainee workforce safely, at low cost, and within days during a public health emergency.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.5334\/aogh.5463","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T07:52:57Z","timestamp":1788162777000},"page":"85","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Rapidly Deployed Phone\u2011Based COVID\u201119 Telemedicine Clinic in Lebanon: A Retrospective Analysis"],"prefix":"10.5334","volume":"92","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5412-7494","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rabih","family":"Soubra","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8046-3467","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rim","family":"Taleb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-2814-9095","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ibrahim","family":"Chehab","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-8906-4751","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yahya","family":"Makkieh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-4606-611X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alissar","family":"El Sibai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5930-1738","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Issam","family":"Shaarani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"3285","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sohrabi C, Alsafi Z, O\u2019Neill N, et al. World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID\u201119). Int J Surg. 2020;76:71\u201376. doi:10.1016\/j.ijsu.2020.02.034.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijsu.2020.02.034"},{"key":"2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Miller IF, Becker AD, Grenfell BT, Metcalf CJE. Disease and healthcare burden of COVID\u201119 in the United States. Nat Med. 2020;26(8):1212\u20131217. doi:10.1038\/s41591-020-0952-y.","DOI":"10.1038\/s41591-020-0952-y"},{"key":"3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cohen J, Rodgers YVM. Contributing factors to personal protective equipment shortages during the COVID\u201119 pandemic. Prev Med. 2020;141:106263. doi:10.1016\/j.ypmed.2020.106263.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ypmed.2020.106263"},{"key":"4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Anderson RM, Heesterbeek H, Klinkenberg D, Hollingsworth TD. How will country\u2011based mitigation measures influence the course of the COVID\u201119 epidemic? Lancet. 2020;395(10228):931\u2013934. doi:10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30567-5.","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30567-5"},{"key":"5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gates BC, Venegas\u2011Vera AV, Lerma EV. Utility of telemedicine in the COVID\u201119 era. Rev Cardiovasc Med. 2020;21(4):583\u2013587. doi:10.31083\/j.rcm.2020.04.188.","DOI":"10.31083\/j.rcm.2020.04.195"},{"key":"6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Koonin LM, Hoots B, Tsang CA, et al. Trends in the use of telehealth during the emergence of the COVID\u201119 pandemic \u2011 United States, January\u2011March 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69(43):1595\u20131599. doi:10.15585\/mmwr.mm6943a3.","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6943a3"},{"key":"7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Litvak M, Miller K, Boyle T, et al. Telemedicine use in disasters: A scoping review. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2022;16(2):791\u2013800. doi:10.1017\/dmp.2020.473.","DOI":"10.1017\/dmp.2020.473"},{"key":"8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Helou S, El Helou E, Abou\u2011Khalil V, et al. The effect of the COVID\u201119 pandemic on physicians\u2019 use and perception of telehealth: The case of Lebanon. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(13):4866. doi:10.3390\/ijerph17134866.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17134866"},{"key":"9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bizri NA, Alam W, Mobayed T, Tamim H, Makki M, Mushrrafieh U. COVID\u201119 in conflict region: The Arab Levant response. BMC Public Health. 2021;21:1590. doi:10.1186\/s12889-021-11580-4.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-021-11580-4"},{"key":"10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kattan C, Badreddine H, Rassy E, Bakouny Z, Kattan J. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the management of cancer patients in Lebanon: A single institutional experience. Future Oncol. 2020;16(17):1157\u20131160. doi:10.2217\/fon-2020-0313.","DOI":"10.2217\/fon-2020-0313"},{"key":"11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shaarani I, Jounblat M, Jounblat H, Ghanem A, Mansour R, Taleb R. Developing and validating a tool to assess telemedicine acceptance among physicians during pandemic using a technology acceptance model. Telemed J E Health. 2023;29(6):903\u2013911. doi:10.1089\/tmj.2022.0348.","DOI":"10.1089\/tmj.2022.0348"},{"key":"12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ogrinc G, Davies L, Goodman D, Batalden P, Davidoff F, Stevens D. SQUIRE 2.0 (Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence): Revised publication guidelines from a detailed consensus process. BMJ Qual Saf. 2016;25(12):986\u2013992. doi:10.1136\/bmjqs-2015-004411.","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjqs-2015-004411"}],"container-title":["Annals of Global Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/annalsofglobalhealth.org\/articles\/5463\/files\/6a9531795072b.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/annalsofglobalhealth.org\/articles\/5463\/files\/6a95319102eb5.xml","content-type":"text\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/annalsofglobalhealth.org\/articles\/5463\/files\/6a9531795072b.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T07:53:00Z","timestamp":1788162780000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/annalsofglobalhealth.org\/articles\/10.5334\/aogh.5463"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]]},"references-count":12,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,2]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5334\/aogh.5463","relation":{},"ISSN":["2214-9996"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2214-9996","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]]}}}