Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping Review
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic brought social, economic, and health impacts, requiring fast adaptation of health systems. Although information and communication technologies were essential for achieving this objective, the extent to which health systems incorporated this tec...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-05-01
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| Series: | JMIR Human Factors |
| Online Access: | https://humanfactors.jmir.org/2022/2/e35380 |
| _version_ | 1827858258317017088 |
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| author | Cícera Renata Diniz Vieira Silva Rayssa Horácio Lopes Osvaldo de Goes Bay Jr Claudia Santos Martiniano Miguel Fuentealba-Torres Ricardo Alexandre Arcêncio Luís Velez Lapão Sonia Dias Severina Alice da Costa Uchoa |
| author_facet | Cícera Renata Diniz Vieira Silva Rayssa Horácio Lopes Osvaldo de Goes Bay Jr Claudia Santos Martiniano Miguel Fuentealba-Torres Ricardo Alexandre Arcêncio Luís Velez Lapão Sonia Dias Severina Alice da Costa Uchoa |
| author_sort | Cícera Renata Diniz Vieira Silva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic brought social, economic, and health impacts, requiring fast adaptation of health systems. Although information and communication technologies were essential for achieving this objective, the extent to which health systems incorporated this technology is unknown.
ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to map the use of digital health strategies in primary health care worldwide and their impact on quality of care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
MethodsWe performed a scoping review based on the Joanna Briggs Institute manual and guided by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) Extension for Scoping Reviews. A systematic and comprehensive three-step search was performed in June and July 2021 in multidisciplinary health science databases and the gray literature. Data extraction and eligibility were performed by two authors independently and interpreted using thematic analysis.
ResultsA total of 44 studies were included and six thematic groups were identified: characterization and geographic distribution of studies; nomenclatures of digital strategies adopted; types of information and communication technologies; characteristics of digital strategies in primary health care; impacts on quality of care; and benefits, limitations, and challenges of digital strategies in primary health care. The impacts on organization of quality of care were investigated by the majority of studies, demonstrating the strengthening of (1) continuity of care; (2) economic, social, geographical, time, and cultural accessibility; (3) coordination of care; (4) access; (5) integrality of care; (6) optimization of appointment time; (7) and efficiency. Negative impacts were also observed in the same dimensions, such as reduced access to services and increased inequity and unequal use of services offered, digital exclusion of part of the population, lack of planning for defining the role of professionals, disarticulation of actions with real needs of the population, fragile articulation between remote and face-to-face modalities, and unpreparedness of professionals to meet demands using digital technologies.
ConclusionsThe results showed the positive and negative impacts of remote strategies on quality of care in primary care and the inability to take advantage of the potential of technologies. This may demonstrate differences in the organization of fast and urgent implementation of digital strategies in primary health care worldwide. Primary health care must strengthen its response capacity, expand the use of information and communication technologies, and manage challenges using scientific evidence since digital health is important and must be integrated into public service. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:52:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1fbac17190e34289aeccf6d5ff351df9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2292-9495 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:52:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Human Factors |
| spelling | doaj.art-1fbac17190e34289aeccf6d5ff351df92023-08-28T21:53:09ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Human Factors2292-94952022-05-0192e3538010.2196/35380Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping ReviewCícera Renata Diniz Vieira Silvahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0928-8368Rayssa Horácio Lopeshttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7041-4792Osvaldo de Goes Bay Jrhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1017-2346Claudia Santos Martinianohttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6610Miguel Fuentealba-Torreshttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4343-6341Ricardo Alexandre Arcênciohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4792-8714Luís Velez Lapãohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0506-1294Sonia Diashttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5085-0685Severina Alice da Costa Uchoahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2531-9937 BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic brought social, economic, and health impacts, requiring fast adaptation of health systems. Although information and communication technologies were essential for achieving this objective, the extent to which health systems incorporated this technology is unknown. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to map the use of digital health strategies in primary health care worldwide and their impact on quality of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsWe performed a scoping review based on the Joanna Briggs Institute manual and guided by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) Extension for Scoping Reviews. A systematic and comprehensive three-step search was performed in June and July 2021 in multidisciplinary health science databases and the gray literature. Data extraction and eligibility were performed by two authors independently and interpreted using thematic analysis. ResultsA total of 44 studies were included and six thematic groups were identified: characterization and geographic distribution of studies; nomenclatures of digital strategies adopted; types of information and communication technologies; characteristics of digital strategies in primary health care; impacts on quality of care; and benefits, limitations, and challenges of digital strategies in primary health care. The impacts on organization of quality of care were investigated by the majority of studies, demonstrating the strengthening of (1) continuity of care; (2) economic, social, geographical, time, and cultural accessibility; (3) coordination of care; (4) access; (5) integrality of care; (6) optimization of appointment time; (7) and efficiency. Negative impacts were also observed in the same dimensions, such as reduced access to services and increased inequity and unequal use of services offered, digital exclusion of part of the population, lack of planning for defining the role of professionals, disarticulation of actions with real needs of the population, fragile articulation between remote and face-to-face modalities, and unpreparedness of professionals to meet demands using digital technologies. ConclusionsThe results showed the positive and negative impacts of remote strategies on quality of care in primary care and the inability to take advantage of the potential of technologies. This may demonstrate differences in the organization of fast and urgent implementation of digital strategies in primary health care worldwide. Primary health care must strengthen its response capacity, expand the use of information and communication technologies, and manage challenges using scientific evidence since digital health is important and must be integrated into public service.https://humanfactors.jmir.org/2022/2/e35380 |
| spellingShingle | Cícera Renata Diniz Vieira Silva Rayssa Horácio Lopes Osvaldo de Goes Bay Jr Claudia Santos Martiniano Miguel Fuentealba-Torres Ricardo Alexandre Arcêncio Luís Velez Lapão Sonia Dias Severina Alice da Costa Uchoa Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping Review JMIR Human Factors |
| title | Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping Review |
| title_full | Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping Review |
| title_fullStr | Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping Review |
| title_short | Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping Review |
| title_sort | digital health opportunities to improve primary health care in the context of covid 19 scoping review |
| url | https://humanfactors.jmir.org/2022/2/e35380 |
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