Increase in the Use of Virtual Care Technologies in Nursing Care in 2020: What are the Main Drivers? (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldo Beausejour ◽  
Simon Hagens

BACKGROUND Canadian nurses are at the forefront of patient care delivery. While the Canadian health care system is embracing digital health, nurses are bound to integrate virtual care into practice. In early 2020, more Canadian nurses delivered care virtually than three years before. OBJECTIVE This study sought to uncover the professional and care setting related characteristics of the nurses who delivered care virtually in 2020 and to investigate the factors driving the uptake of virtual care by nurses prior to the pandemic of COVID-19. METHODS We utilized data from the 2017 and 2020 National survey of Canadian nurses. This survey collected data on the use of digital health technologies in nursing practice. It concerned regulated nursing professionals working in different health care settings and from different domains of nursing practice. We combined Chi-square independence test and logistic regression analysis to uncover the main drivers of virtual care uptake by nurses in 2020. RESULTS In early 2020, prior to the pandemic of COVID-19, nurses who delivered care virtually were predominantly nurse practitioners (85%), more likely to work in a primary or community care setting (62%), or in an urban setting (62%). Factors like nursing designation (P < .01), perceived quality of care at the health facility where the nurses practiced (P < .01), and the type of patient record keeping system they had access to (P < .05) had a statistically significant effect on the probability for nurses to deliver care virtually in early 2020. Furthermore, nurses’ perception of the quality of care they delivered through virtual technologies was statistically associated with their perception of the skills (Chi-square=308.66, P < .01) and knowledge (Chi-square=283.39, P < .01) to use these technologies. CONCLUSIONS The study revealed some disparities in the uptake of virtual care by nurses across geographic regions. From an allocation standpoint, this finding should help decision-makers to pinpoint gaps in digital health utilization. Similarly, discrepancies in the use of virtual health across nursing designation have some implications for leadership at the care settings and for nurse educators in terms of competences and training for nurses at all levels of practice. Moreover, care settings are strongly encouraged to modernize their patient record keeping system as access to EMRs tended to influence the adoption of virtual care, which could foster interoperability. Finally, policy-related factors should not be overlooked when it comes to virtual care technologies integration in nursing practice.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cícera Renata Silva ◽  
Rayssa Horacio Lopes ◽  
Osvaldo de Goes Bay Jr ◽  
Claudia Santos Martiniano ◽  
Miguel Fuentealba-Torres ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The 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. OBJECTIVE 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. METHODS We conducted a scoping review based on the Joanna Briggs Institute manual and guided by PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews. A systematic and comprehensive three-step search was performed in June and July 2021 in multidisciplinary health science databases and gray literature. Data extraction and eligibility were performed by two independent authors and interpreted using thematic analysis. RESULTS Forty-four 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 most studies and strengthened (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 dimension, 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 of technologies. CONCLUSIONS 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 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.


2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 314-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Zegers ◽  
M. C. de Bruijne ◽  
P. Spreeuwenberg ◽  
C. Wagner ◽  
P. P. Groenewegen ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
I. Barsukova ◽  
I. Bagretsova

Development of a system for the delivery of emergency care in a hospital inevitably raises questions of its availability and quality. And, if the leading pathological syndrome which is a reason for hospitalization and posing a threat to the patient's life deserves priority attention, then the accompanying pathology often stays in the background. At the same time the accompanying pathology related to the field of dermatovenerology poses epidemiological threat. The aim of the study was to improve the organization of health care for patients with concomitant pathology related to dermatovenerology in an emergency hospital. Development of new models and principles of the organization of medical and diagnostic process, introduction of methods of express diagnostics is required; importance of a dermatovenerologist becomes obvious, it will increase the availability and quality of care for patients with dermatovenereological pathology in an emergency hospital.


1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria M. Talbott

Complaints of older widows regarding their husbands' health care are investigated in this study. Sixty-four older widows were interviewed several years after their husbands' deaths. The deaths occurred in the early 1980s. Forty-six percent reported problems in the health care their husbands had received. Widows whose husbands had not known in advance that they were going to die were more likely to complain about their husbands' medical care than widows whose husbands had known in advance. Complaints were also related to the frequency of several symptoms of grief. The widows' complaints about their husbands' care focus on quality of care, perceived insensitivity on the part of health care professionals, lack of control over the death, and the organization of services.


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 1290.1-1290 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Teodorovic ◽  
S. Djordjevic ◽  
L. Vranic

Background:In Serbia, regular examinations with a rheumatologist are scheduled on average every 3 to 4 months. With this in mind, there is a real possibility that many patient data during this period may not be presented to the doctor during the examination, either because the patient forgets them or because they may focus on other issues and may not highlight key factsObjectives:To overcome this problem, the Association of Patients with Rheumatic Diseases of Serbia-ORS in cooperation with an IT firm developed the application “MojRA”, which was presented at the annual rheumatology congress of Serbia held in September 2019. The application “MojRA” is intended for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis - RA. The application enables efficient storage and systematization of data, allows doctors to monitor the condition of their patients between two examinations and have a medical history. “MojRA” is available for now from smartphones running the android operating system on the google play store. The privacy of patient information is guaranteed.Methods:Patients with RA will be able to record and store information about important moments during treatment in a simple and transparent way. At each subsequent visit they will be able to describe what happened to their illness in the meantime. The application can create different types of reports and views.At the same time, the doctor can use the app to inform the patient about her/his condition in real time, which will contribute to better and more meaningful communication. All this would improve the quality of health care, preserving work capacity and improving the quality of life.Results:In order to simplify biotherapy committee approval procedure for patients of RA, the “Charger” has been developed in association with ORS and URes. The “Charger” will connect data collected by MojRa to the registry of RA patients, making the whole approval procedure more efficient and transparent.Testing of the second version of this application is underway, meetings are held between the patients using the application and the IT company that created it.Plans are to expand the app to other types of arthritis in the near future, too, and will soon be completed for devices running Apple operating systems.Conclusion:In addition to being of great benefit to patients and doctors, it can in the future be of immeasurable importance for the savings in the overall health care system of the Republic of Serbia.References:[1]Mobile Apps for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Opportunities and Challenges, Mollard E, Michaud K, Rheum Dis Clin, May 2019, Volume 45, Issue 2, Pages 197–209[2]Apps for People With Rheumatoid Arthritis to Monitor Their Disease Activity: A Review of Apps for Best Practice and Quality, Rebecca Grainger, Hutt Hospital, JMIR Publications, Advancing Digital Health Research, Feb 27, 2017.[3]ACR Mobile Apps,https://www.rheumatology.org/Learning-Center/Apps,American College of Reumatology.Disclosure of Interests:None declared


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 237437352199774
Author(s):  
Thomas Key ◽  
Avadhut Kulkarni ◽  
Vikram Kandhari ◽  
Zayd Jawad ◽  
Angela Hughes ◽  
...  

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated many rapid changes in the provision and delivery of health care in hospital. This study aimed to explore the patient experience of inpatient care during COVID-19 pandemic. An electronic questionnaire was designed and distributed to inpatients treated at a large University Health Board over a 6-week period. It focused on hospital inpatients’ experience of being cared for by health care professionals wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), explored communication, and patients’ perceptions of the quality of care. A total of 704 patients completed the survey. Results demonstrated that patients believe PPE is important to protect the health of both patients and staff and does not negatively impact on their care. In spite of routine use of PPE, patients were still able to identify and communicate with staff. Although visiting restrictions were enforced to limit disease transmission, patients maintained contact with their relatives by using various electronic forms of communication. Overall, patients rated the quality of care they received at 9/10. This single-center study demonstrates a positive patient experience of care at an unprecedented time.


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