A review of telehealth during the COVID-19 emergency situation in the public health sector: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide current state of knowledge on how the COVID-19 emergency situation necessitated the behaviour influencing use and acceptance of telehealth. This study interlinks the health belief model (HBM) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to highlight the challenges and opportunities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the public health sector. Design/methodology/approach This study used three online databases (Emerald publishing, Science Direct and Taylor and Francis) that enabled the authors to access electronic journal articles. Search strategy was used to extract articles based on the relevance of this study. Findings The key findings from this study suggested that the COVID-19 emergency forced health-care workers and their patients to rapidly use and rely on telehealth to reduce the rate of COVID-19 transmissions. The key benefits of telehealth use highlighted an expansive cost effective and convenient access to health-care services irrespective of geographical local and levels of physical impairment. Moreover, telehealth inhibited in person human interaction, which was perceived as impersonal and not ideal for new patient consultations. The barriers outweighed the benefits; as a result, it is unlikely that there will be a wide use of telehealth beyond the COVID-19 emergency situation. Practical implications The research findings are limited to discussions drawn from available secondary data. The criteria within telehealth for policymakers to note the technology acceptance and use for both health-care and outpatient stakeholders and their health seeking behaviour. Health-care sectors (private and public) and government need to understand enablers of effective telehealth in policymaking to ease the barriers during an emergency situation like a pandemic. Originality/value This study contributes to the emerging literature on how COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted and accelerated telehealth by extending both the UTAUT and HBM theories. This study is expected to contribute and expand literature on telehealth during emergency situations, given the novice nature of COVID-19 and limited literature surrounding it.

Did the pandemic influence telehealth use among Swiss emergency department patients? A sequential explanatory study

“…All the participants cited the importance of the human factor in healthcare system, and they see telehealth as a threat to this. 47 The power of voice emerged as very important. 47 Associated with this concern is the issue that GPs have less and less time for patients as they spend more time on technology and/or documentation.…”

“… 47 The power of voice emerged as very important. 47 Associated with this concern is the issue that GPs have less and less time for patients as they spend more time on technology and/or documentation. The key informants raised concerns over the mental well-being of healthcare workers, with some reporting having seen their own GPs affected.…”

“…All the participants cited the importance of the human factor in healthcare system, and they see telehealth as a threat to this 47. The power of voice emerged as very important 47.…”

Enhanced Two-Step Virtual Catchment Area (E2SVCA) model to measure telehealth accessibility

“…According to findings reported by Ng and Park ( 2021 ), 81.2% of survey respondents reported that their medical providers offered telehealth services during the pandemic. Another study suggested that telehealth was rapidly used by doctors and patients to reduce COVID-19 transmission (Maleka & Matli, 2022 ). Telehealth also offered significant help to those with chronic diseases that required seeing a doctor regularly to understand and manage their conditions (Bitar & Alismail, 2021 ).…”

Understanding the Determinants of m-Health Adoption in Indonesia

“…Nevertheless, a study that involves both perceived quality and perceived risk would be interesting to get comprehensive insight. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) has commonly been used for research regarding technology adoption in health-related industries regarding several aspects, such as cost and interaction aspects (Maleka & Matli, 2022), situational challenges and health concerns (Barua & Barua, 2021), customer attitude and condition (Donmez-Turan, 2020). However, those studies were not done explicitly for m-health users and were only conducted in Bangladesh and Turkey.…”