Increased importance of digital medicine and eHealth during the Covid-19 pandemic

Thulesius, Hans

doi:10.1080/02813432.2020.1770466

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…The experience gained from these means of communication is generally positive and will undoubtedly have an impact on how the PHC will conduct its future relations with its clients. This is in line with the tendency seen in many other countries [2].…”

Section: Editorialsupporting

confidence: 92%

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The power of primary health care

Jónsson

Sigurðsson

2020

Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

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Section: Editorialsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Antibiotic overuse and particularly the over prescribing of antibiotics for children being of extreme importance in PHC [3,4]. It seems that in Iceland, the use of antibiotics among children decreased during the first wave of covid-19, from March to May 2020 [2]. There might be two reasons for this.…”

Section: Editorialmentioning

confidence: 99%

The power of primary health care

Jónsson

Sigurðsson

2020

Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

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“…It is a vital part of telemedicine or telehealth, which are synonymous and broader terms referring to all kind of healthcare services over distance, and consequently increasing the accessibility of healthcare [2][3][4][5]. The coronavirus pandemic has made telemedicine even more central in healthcare [6]; in particular, virtual care where video consultation has been scaled up in order to reduce the transmission risk [3,7]. Nevertheless, it is still not fully clear how well video consultation works in general and for physicians in particular [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physicians’ experiences of video consultation with patients at a public virtual primary care clinic: a qualitative interview study

Björndell

Premberg

2021

Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

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Objective: To describe physicians' experiences of video consultation with new patients visiting a publicly owned virtual primary care clinic. Design: In this qualitative study, data were collected from semi-structured individual interviews and analysed by systematic text condensation. Setting: A publicly owned virtual primary care clinic in Region V€ astra G€ otaland, Sweden. Subjects: Ten primary care physicians working at the clinic. Results: Connecting with a patient over video could be either straightforward or deficient, depending on communication and the patient's condition. Clinical experience, communication skills, and involving patients throughout the consultation and examination were crucial for assessments over video where patients were guided to perform self-examination. The flexibility of work and the regulated assignment online were positive for the physicians' work situation and wellbeing. Providing video consultation within the same organisation as the patient's regular health centre was considered to facilitate patient care and safety. Video consultation was considered suitable for some diagnoses and for some patients not able to reach a primary healthcare centre, though doubts were expressed about the healthcare and social benefits of this virtual care service. Conclusion: For the physicians, video consultation induced changes in the basis for assessment of primary care patients. The limitations on informational exchange demanded an extended form of patient involvement founded upon consultation skills, clinical experience and new skills for virtual examination. Combining virtual care with traditional general practice has the potential to reduce the workload for the individual physician and ensure medical competence in virtual primary care. Video consultation experienced suitable in some situations, but easy access to it expressed problematic in terms of medical prioritisation in healthcare. KEY POINTS Video consultation is suitable for primary care visits for some patients, but physicians' experiences of this are rarely studied. Clinical experience and consultation skills are important for video assessment of primary care patients which involves physician-guided patient self-examination. Video consultation facilitates care in some situations and could benefit from the provider being connected to patient's regular health centre. Virtual care offers a flexible way of working but challenges healthcare prioritisation from the primary care physician's perspective.

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“…However, despite emphasizing the importance of privacy and security, only 5 publications of 18 describing implementation of a specific RMT reported on security and privacy features or policies of the software used [24][25][26]32,35]. Additionally, two publications noted that use of RMTs could break down the humanitarian core of care as well as patient-provider communication [43,50]. One way to promote effective patient communication is to design user-friendly technology with two-way communication [68].…”

Section: Barriers To Use Of Rmtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to Use of Remote Monitoring Technologies Used to Support Patients With COVID-19: Rapid Review

Houlding¹,

Mate²,

Engler³

et al. 2021

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for the development and adoption of a broad range of remote monitoring technologies (RMTs) in health care delivery. It is important to demonstrate how these technologies were implemented during the early stages of this pandemic to identify their application and barriers to adoption, particularly among vulnerable populations. Objective The purpose of this knowledge synthesis was to present the range of RMTs used in delivering care to patients with COVID-19 and to identify perceived benefits of and barriers to their use. The review placed a special emphasis on health equity considerations. Methods A rapid review of published research was conducted using Embase, MEDLINE, and QxMD for records published from the inception of COVID-19 (December 2019) to July 6, 2020. Synthesis involved content analysis of reported benefits of and barriers to the use of RMTs when delivering health care to patients with COVID-19, in addition to health equity considerations. Results Of 491 records identified, 48 publications that described 35 distinct RMTs were included in this review. RMTs included use of existing technologies (eg, videoconferencing) and development of new ones that have COVID-19–specific applications. Content analysis of perceived benefits generated 34 distinct codes describing advantages of RMTs, mapped to 10 themes overall. Further, 52 distinct codes describing barriers to use of RMTs were mapped to 18 themes. Prominent themes associated with perceived benefits included a lower burden of care (eg, for hospitals, health care practitioners; 28 records), reduced infection risk (n=33), and support for vulnerable populations (n=14). Prominent themes reflecting barriers to use of RMTs included equity-related barriers (eg, affordability of technology for users, poor internet connectivity, poor health literacy; n=16), the need for quality “best practice” guidelines for use of RMTs in clinical care (n=12), and the need for additional resources to develop and support new technologies (n=11). Overall, 23 of 48 records commented on equity characteristics that stratify health opportunities and outcomes, including general characteristics that vary over time (eg, age, comorbidities; n=17), place of residence (n=11), and socioeconomic status (n=7). Conclusions Results of this rapid review highlight the breadth of RMTs being used to monitor and inform treatment of COVID-19, the potential benefits of using these technologies, and existing barriers to their use. Results can be used to prioritize further efforts in the implementation of RMTs (eg, developing “best practice” guidelines for use of RMTs and generating strategies to improve equitable access for marginalized populations).

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Increased importance of digital medicine and eHealth during the Covid-19 pandemic

Cited by 22 publications

References 17 publications

The power of primary health care

The power of primary health care

Physicians’ experiences of video consultation with patients at a public virtual primary care clinic: a qualitative interview study

Barriers to Use of Remote Monitoring Technologies Used to Support Patients With COVID-19: Rapid Review

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