scholarly journals Connecting the World of Healthcare Virtually: A Scoping Review on Virtual Care Delivery

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1325
Author(s):  
Cindy (Zhirui) Li ◽  
Elizabeth M. Borycki ◽  
Andre W. Kushniruk
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Emergency Services ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Specific Patient ◽  
Anxiety Management ◽  
Virtual Care ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Therapy Services ◽  
Remote Care

Virtual care extends beyond the walls of healthcare organizations to provide care at a distance. Although virtual care cannot be regarded as a solution for all health-related inquiries, it provides another care delivery channel for specific patient populations with appointments that do not require in-person physical examinations or procedures. A scoping review was conducted to define the meaning of virtual care, understand how virtual care has influenced the healthcare industry and is being expanded to complement the existing healthcare system, and describe the outcomes of using virtual care for patients and providers. Findings from the scoping review suggest that virtual care encompasses the provision of care using advanced video conferencing technology to support remote care that takes place between patients and providers and the use of virtual reality technology to simulate care environments. Some of virtual care’s use in healthcare includes application to pain and anxiety management, virtual consultations and follow-up visits, rehabilitation and therapy services, outpatient clinics, and emergency services. Lastly, from a provider and patient perspective, while both saw benefits of virtual care and scored the service relatively high on satisfaction after using virtual care, the greatest barrier to using virtual care may be technological challenges.

Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on the adoption of virtual care in general practice in 20 countries (inSIGHT): rationale and study protocol (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Luísa Neves ◽  
Edmond Li ◽  
Alice Serafini ◽  
Geronimo Larrain Gimenez ◽  
Heidrun Lingner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Virtual Care ◽  
The Future ◽  
Perceived Impact ◽  
Remote Care ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND In recent decades, virtual care has emerged as a promising option to support primary care delivery. However, despite the potential, adoption rates remained low. With the outbreak of COVID-19, it has suddenly been pushed to the forefront of care delivery. As we progress into the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need and opportunity to review the impact remote care had in primary care settings and reassess its potential future role. OBJECTIVE This study aims to explore the perspectives of General Practitioners / Family Doctors (GPs/FDs) on a.) use of virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic; b.) perceived impact on quality and safety of care; c.) essential factors for high-quality and sustainable use of virtual care in the future. METHODS Online cross-sectional questionnaire of GPs/FDs, distributed across 20 countries. The survey was hosted in Qualtrics and distributed using email, social media, and the researchers’ personal contact networks. General Practitioners were eligible for the survey if they were working mainly in primary care during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistical analysis will be performed for quantitative variables, and subgroup analyses will be conducted to explore the relationships between the use of virtual care and perceptions on impact on quality and safety of care, and participants’ characteristics. Qualitative data (free-text responses) will be analysed using framework analysis. RESULTS N/A CONCLUSIONS The study will provide a comprehensive overview of the availability of virtual care technologies, perceived impact on quality and safety of care and essential factors for high-quality future use. In addition, a description of the underlying factors that influence this adoption and perceptions, in both individual GP/FD characteristics, and the context in which they work, will be provided. While the COVID-19 pandemic may prove the first great stress test of the capabilities, capacity, and robustness of digital systems currently in use, remote care will likely remain an increasingly common approach in the future. There is an imperative to identify the main lessons from this unexpected transformation and use them to inform policy decisions and health service design.

Virtual Prehabilitation of Surgical Cancer Patients in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Feasibility Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve Lambert ◽  
Kenneth Drummond ◽  
Bhagya Tahasildar ◽  
Francesco Carli
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Psychosocial Health ◽  
Preoperative Period ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Remote Care

BACKGROUND Since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, preoperative care, also termed prehabilitation, have become increasingly relevant due to the decreasing functional and psychosocial health of cancer patients due to the restrictions. Concurrently, there has been improved access to telehealth, which defines all remote care delivery facilitated by information technologies (i.e., virtually). This present protocol describes the rationale and methodology for a major trial investigating the feasibility and primary effectiveness of multimodal virtual prehabilitation services (i.e, teleprehabilitation). OBJECTIVE This present protocol describes the rationale and methodology for a major trial investigating the feasibility and primary effectiveness of multimodal virtual prehabilitation services (i.e, teleprehabilitation). METHODS This quality improvement trial aims to recruit 100 cancer patients to receive teleprehabilitation throughout their preoperative period. The inclusion criteria are: (1) 18 years old, scheduled for elective cancer surgery and referred by a surgeon, (2) to be medically cleared by the referring physician to engage in physical activity; and (3) to have a good comprehension of the English or French language. RESULTS Feasibility will be assessed by documenting adherence and completion rate, in addition to process challenges and benefits, and reasons for not participating in the trial or for discontinuation. Secondary outcomes will be preoperative and postoperative functional capacity and clinical outcomes, in addition to health-related quality of life, anxiety and depression, upon recruitment, before the surgery, and four- and height-week after the surgery. CONCLUSIONS This trial will provide guidance on the use of telehealth in the administration of prehabilitation services, providing large scale information responding to gaps of the literature, as there are minimal reports on the use of telehealth rehabilitation/ prehabilitation services with the elderly populations and in acute contexts, such as the preoperative period. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT0479956, registered prospectively on March 16th, 2021; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04799561

scholarly journals Conceptualizing Health Promotion in Relation to Outpatient Healthcare Building Design: A Scoping Review

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Miedema ◽  
Göran Lindahl ◽  
Marie Elf
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Outpatient Services ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Current State ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Behavior Health ◽  
Associated Design

Objective: This review explored different conceptualizations of health promotion in the context of, and in relation to, outpatient building design. Background: Today’s healthcare organizations are implementing holistic healthcare approaches such as health promotion, while simultaneously increasing their outpatient services. These health promotion approaches, focused on empowering people to take control of their health, are expected to have implications for the outpatient healthcare building design. Yet there is limited knowledge what these may be. A review of the literature on the current state of the art is thus needed to enable and support dialog on future healthcare building design. Method: A scoping review of 4,506 papers, collected from four databases and three scientific journals in 2015, resulted in 14 papers relating health promotion to building design and outpatient healthcare. From the subsequent content analysis, multiple common themes and subthemes emerged. Results: The review reveals diverse range of health promotion interpretations, three health promotion perspectives (health behavior, health equity, and sense of coherence), associated design approaches, design objectives, health-related outcomes, building features, and solutions. Conclusions: While diverse health promotion perspectives might merely represent variations in focus, these differences become problematic when relating to building design. To support further dialogs on development of health promotion in, and in relation to, the build environment, there is a need to strengthen the health promotion vocabulary. Further research is needed to compare different design approaches and how these can be combined to minimize contradicting implications for building design.

scholarly journals A Systematic Scoping Review of How Healthcare Organizations Are Facilitating Access to Fruits and Vegetables in Their Patient Populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 150 (11) ◽  
pp. 2859-2873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Veldheer ◽  
Christina Scartozzi ◽  
Amy Knehans ◽  
Tamara Oser ◽  
Natasha Sood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Study Quality ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Improve Patient

ABSTRACT Background There is compelling evidence on the impact of diet as preventative medicine, and with rising health care costs healthcare organizations are attempting to identify interventions to improve patient health outcomes. Objectives The purpose of this systematic scoping review was to characterize existing healthcare organization–based interventions to improve access to fruits and vegetables (F&V) for their patient populations. In addition, we aimed to review the impact of identified interventions on dietary intake and health outcomes. Methods Titles and abstracts were searched in PubMed® (MEDLINE®), Embase®, CINAHL®, and the Cochrane Library® from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 2019. To be selected for inclusion, original studies must have included a healthcare organization and have had a programmatic focus on increasing access to or providing fresh F&V to patients in an outpatient, naturalistic setting. The Effective Public Health Practice Project tool was used to assess study quality in 6 domains (selection bias, study design, confounders, blinding, data collection methods, and withdrawals and dropouts). Results A total of 8876 abstracts were screened, yielding 44 manuscripts or abstracts from 27 programs. Six program models were identified: 1) a cash-back rebate program, 2) F&V voucher programs, 3) garden-based programs, 4) subsidized food box programs, 5) home-delivery meal programs, and 6) collaborative food pantry–clinical programs. Only 6 of 27 studies included a control group. The overall quality of the studies was weak due to participant selection bias and incomplete reporting on data collection tools, confounders, and dropouts. Given the heterogeneity of outcomes measured and weak study quality, conclusions regarding dietary and health-related outcomes were limited. Conclusions Healthcare-based initiatives to improve patient access to F&V are novel and have promise. However, future studies will need rigorous study designs and validated data collection tools, particularly related to dietary intake, to better determine the effect of these interventions on health-related outcomes.

Reactive to Proactive: The telemedicine we need (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Hallberg ◽  
David Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Care Team ◽  
Patient Needs ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Delivery Of Care ◽  
Delivery Model ◽  
Care Delivery Model ◽  
Remote Care

UNSTRUCTURED The COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to telemedicine like never before. Physicians and healthcare organizations have worked quickly to give patients the care they need remotely. The fastest way to transition to telemedicine was to replicate the current episodic delivery of care. However, a continuous remote care delivery model involving a care team that is proactive to patient needs can help us get the most out of the addition of technology allowing both increased access and improved health outcomes.

scholarly journals The Application of Drones in Healthcare and Health-Related Services in North America: A Scoping Review

Drones ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Bradley Hiebert ◽  
Elysée Nouvet ◽  
Vyshnave Jeyabalan ◽  
Lorie Donelle
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Related Services ◽  
Service Accessibility ◽  
Health Service Providers ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Related Service

Using drone aircraft to deliver healthcare and other health-related services is a relatively new application of this technology in North America. For health service providers, drones represent a feasible means to increase their efficiency and ability to provide services to individuals, especially those in difficult to reach locations. This paper presents the results of a scoping review of the research literature to determine how drones are used for healthcare and health-related services in North America, and how such applications account for human operating and machine design factors. Data were collected from PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore using a block search protocol that combined 13 synonyms for “drone” and eight broad terms capturing healthcare and health-related services. Four-thousand-six-hundred-and-sixty-five documents were retrieved, and following a title, abstract, and full-text screening procedure completed by all authors, 29 documents were retained for analysis through an inductive coding process. Overall, findings indicate that drones may represent a financially feasible means to promote healthcare and health-related service accessibility for those in difficult-to-reach areas; however, further work is required to fully understand the costs to healthcare organizations and the communities they serve.

A Scoping Review of Telehealth-Assisted Case Management for Chronic Illnesses

2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592110089
Author(s):  
Jee Young Joo ◽  
Megan F. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Chronic Illnesses ◽  
Future Research

This scoping review aimed to examine telehealth-assisted case management for chronic illnesses and assess its overall impact on health care delivery. Guided by the PRISMA statement, this review included 36 empirical studies published between 2011 and 2020. This study identified three weaknesses and four strengths of telehealth-assisted case management. While the weaknesses were negative feelings about telehealth, challenges faced by patients in learning and using telehealth devices, and increased workload for case managers, the strengths included efficient and timely care, increased access to health care services, support for patients’ satisfaction, and cost savings. Future research can be designed and conducted for overcoming the weaknesses of telehealth-assisted case management. Additionally, the strengths identified by this review need to be translated from research into case management practice for chronic illness care. This review not only describes the value of such care strategy, but also provides implications for future nursing practice and research.

scholarly journals Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2649
Author(s):  
Christoph Strauss ◽  
Günter Bildstein ◽  
Jana Efe ◽  
Theo Flacher ◽  
Karen Hofmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Event Simulation ◽  
Emergency Services ◽  
Prehospital Care ◽  
Discrete Event ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Event Simulation ◽  
Emergency Medical

Many studies in research deal with optimizing emergency medical services (EMS) on both the operational and the strategic level. It is the purpose of this method-oriented article to explain the major features of “rule-based discrete event simulation” (rule-based DES), which we developed independently in Germany and Switzerland. Our rule-based DES addresses questions concerning the location and relocation of ambulances, dispatching and routing policies, and EMS interplay with other players in prehospital care. We highlight three typical use cases from a practitioner’s perspective and go into different countries’ peculiarities. We show how research results are applied to EMS and healthcare organizations to simulate and optimize specific regions in Germany and Switzerland with their strong federal structures. The rule-based DES serves as basis for decision support to improve regional emergency services’ efficiency without increasing cost. Finally, all simulation-based methods suggest normative solutions and optimize EMS’ performance within given healthcare system structures. We argue that interactions between EMS, emergency departments, and public healthcare agencies are crucial to further improving effectiveness, efficiency, and quality.

scholarly journals Analysis of Facilitators and Barriers to the Delivery of Routine Care during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 528
Author(s):  
Cristian Lieneck ◽  
Brooke Herzog ◽  
Raven Krips
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Routine Care ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Facilitators And Barriers

The delivery of routine health care during the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to be challenged as public health guidelines and other local/regional/state and other policies are enforced to help prevent the spread of the virus. The objective of this systematic review is to identify the facilitators and barriers affecting the delivery of routine health care services during the pandemic to provide a framework for future research. In total, 32 articles were identified for common themes surrounding facilitators of routine care during COVID-19. Identified constructed in the literature include enhanced education initiatives for parents/patients regarding routine vaccinations, an importance of routine vaccinations as compared to the risk of COVID-19 infection, an enhanced use of telehealth resources (including diagnostic imagery) and identified patient throughput/PPE initiatives. Reviewers identified the following barriers to the delivery of routine care: conservation of medical providers and PPE for non-routine (acute) care delivery needs, specific routine care services incongruent the telehealth care delivery methods, and job-loss/food insecurity. Review results can assist healthcare organizations with process-related challenges related to current and/or future delivery of routine care and support future research initiatives as the global pandemic continues.

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