Cross Sectional E-Health Evaluation Study for Telemedicine and M-Health Approaches in Monitoring COVID-19 Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Abstract

Monitoring COVID-19 patients with COPD has become one of the major tasks in preventing transmission and delivering emergency healthcare services after vaccination in case of any issues. Most COVID-19-affected patients are suggested to self-quarantine at home or in institutionalized quarantine centers. In such cases, it is essential to provide remote healthcare services. For remote healthcare monitoring, two approaches are being considered in this study, which include mHealth and Telehealth. A mixed-methods approach is adopted, where survey questionnaires are used for collecting information from 108 patients and semi-structured interviews are used with seven physicians regarding mHealth and Telehealth approaches. Survey results indicated that mHealth is rated to be slightly more effective than Telehealth, and interview results indicated that Telehealth is identified to be slightly more effective than mHealth in relation to parameters including usefulness, ease of use and learnability, interface and interaction quality, reliability, and satisfaction. However, both physicians and patients opined that both mHealth and Telehealth have a promising future with increasing adoption. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that both mHealth and Telehealth are considered to be effective in delivering remote care for COPD patients infected with COVID-19 at home. Implications of the study findings are discussed.

mHealth and eHealth Applications for a Medicalized Quarantine Hotel during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…36 eHealth is connected to medical informatics, public health, and business, referring to the health services and information delivered or enhanced through the internet and related technologies. 24 MQHs have an efficient relationship with each other through eHealth, for example, MMH uses the HIS database and Taiwan CDC uses the NIDRS database. The simplicity of design and the possibility of connection to the HIS database allows administrators and users to access the reports they need with higher confidence and speed and avoid the repeated collection of information.…”

“…The widespread adoption of telemonitoring tools as alternatives to unnecessary hospitalization gets particular relevance in the context of the ongoing second or third wave of COVID-19 in many countries. 24 mHealth (mobile health, social media communities) is a medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other wireless devices. 25 mHealth can be used for both information exchange and remote monitoring and diagnosis 26 and involves the use of mobile communication systems to manage health care activities, share medical data, analyze health information, and improve overall patient outcomes and experience.…”

“…22 eHealth and mHealth are two major approaches that have been used extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver remote health care services. 24 This study aimed to describe the adaptation of an MQH to provide hospital-level care to patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic in Taiwan and explore the physical and psychological impact of COVID-19 on patients staying at the MQH.…”

Systematic Review of the Efficiency of Telemedicine During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Several studies report the use of telemedicine which is beneficial in reducing the workload of doctors because it reduces the frequency of in-person visits and is an alternative in managing COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms 16 . Although the treatment provided is not direct, the study's results mentioned effectiveness in handling COPD patients infected with COVID- 12 .…”

“…The characteristics of the study in this systematic review can be seen in Most studies used a telemedicine service in real-time, where interactions between doctors and patients were carried out directly over the phone through several different applications. Studies in The study, conducted in Saudi Arabia 12 , discussed two types of telemedicine in his research;…”