scholarly journals Digital Technology for Remote Hearing Assessment—Current Status and Future Directions for Consumers

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10124
Author(s):  
Karina C. De Sousa ◽  
David R. Moore ◽  
Cas Smits ◽  
De Wet Swanepoel
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Traditional Service ◽  
Hearing Assessment ◽  
Delivery Models

Globally, more than 1.5 billion people have hearing loss. Unfortunately, most people with hearing loss reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where traditional face-to-face services rendered by trained health professionals are few and unequally dispersed. The COVID-19 pandemic has further hampered the effectiveness of traditional service delivery models to provide hearing care. Digital health technologies are strong enablers of hearing care and can support health delivery models that are more sustainable. The convergence of advancing technology and mobile connectivity is enabling new ways of providing decentralized hearing services. Recently, an abundance of digital applications that offer hearing tests directly to the public has become available. A growing body of evidence has shown the ability of several approaches to provide accurate, accessible, and remote hearing assessment to consumers. Further effort is needed to promote greater accuracy across a variety of test platforms, improve sensitivity to ear disease, and scale up hearing rehabilitation, especially in LMICs.

Digital health technologies for long term self-management of osteoporosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghada Alhussein ◽  
Leontios Hadjileontiadis
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Common Chronic Disease ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Management Interventions

BACKGROUND Osteoporosis is the fourth most common chronic disease in the world. Adopting preventative measures and effective self-management interventions help in improving bone health. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies can play a key role in osteoporosis patient care and self- management. OBJECTIVE This study presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the currently available mHealth applications targeting osteoporosis self-management, aiming to determine the current status, gaps and challenges the future research could address, proposing appropriate recommendations. METHODS In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, Scopus, EBSCO, Web of Science, and IEEExplore databases between Jan 1, 2010 and May 31, 2021, for all English publications that describe apps dedicated to or being useful for osteoporosis, targeting self-management, nutrition, physical activity, risk assessment, delivered on smartphone devices for young and older adults. In addition, a survey of all osteoporosis-related apps available in iOS and Android app stores as of May 31, 2021 was also conducted. Primary outcomes of interest were the prevention or reduction of unhealthy behaviours or improvement in healthy behaviours of the six behaviours. Outcomes were summarised in a narrative synthesis and combined using random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS In total, 3906 unique articles were identified. Of these, 32 articles met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed in depth. The 32 studies were comprising 14 235 participants, of whom on average 69.5% were female, with a mean age of 49.8 years (SD 17.8). The app search identified 23 relevant apps for osteoporosis self-management. The meta-analysis revealed that mHealth supported interventions resulted in a significant reduction in pain (Hedge’s g -1.09, 95%CI -1.68 to -0.45) and disability (Hedge’s g -0.77, 95%CI -1.59 to 0.05). The post-treatment effect of the digital intervention was significant for physical function (Hedge’s g 2.54, 95%CI -4.08 to 4.08); yet nonsignificant for wellbeing (Hedge’s g 0.17, 95% CI -1.84 to 2.17), physical activity (Hedges’ g 0.09, 95%CI -0.59 to 0.50), anxiety (Hedge’s g -0.29, 95%CI -6.11 to 5.53), fatigue (Hedge’s g -0.34, 95%CI -5.84 to 5.16), calcium (Hedge’s g -0.05, 95%CI -0.59 to 0.50) and vitamin D (Hedge’s g 0.10, 95% CI -4.05 to 4.26) intake, and trabecular score (Hedge’s g 0.06, 95%CI -1.00 to 1.12). CONCLUSIONS Osteoporosis apps have the potential to support and improve the management of the disease and its symptoms; they also appear to be a valuable tool for patients and health professionals. However, the majority of the apps that are currently available lack clinically validated evidence of their efficacy and they most focus on a limited number of symptoms. A more holistic and personalized approach, within a co-creation design ecosystem, is needed.

scholarly journals Adoption of enterprise architecture for healthcare in AeHIN member countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. e100136
Author(s):  
Jitendra Jonnagaddala ◽  
Guan N Guo ◽  
Sean Batongbacal ◽  
Alvin Marcelo ◽  
Siaw-Teng Liaw
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Enterprise Architecture ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Management Training ◽  
Senior Management ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Expert Advice ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Health Technologies

BackgroundHealthcare organisations are undergoing a major transformational shift in the use of information and digital health technologies. Enterprise architecture (EA) has been incrementally adopted in many healthcare organisations globally to facilitate this change. EA can increase the effectiveness of an organisation’s digital health capabilities and resources. However, little is known about the status of EA adoption in low-income and middle-income countries. This study aimed to evaluate the challenges, goals and benefits associated with adoption of EA for healthcare in the Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN) member countries .MethodsWe developed an EA Adoption Evaluation framework with four principal layers: governance, strategy, EA and performance. The framework guided the development of a questionnaire to investigate the goals, challenges and benefits faced before and during EA adoption by healthcare organisations.Sample26 participants from 18 healthcare organisations in the Asia-Pacific region representing 11 countries. Organisations included Ministries of Health, Universities, Non-Governmental Organisations and Technical Advisory Groups.FindingsOnly 5 of the 18 organisations had begun adopting EA. The goals expressed for EA adoption were to address issues such as interoperability, lack of technical infrastructure and poor alignment of business and information technology strategies. Cost reduction was less emphasised. The main challenges to adopting EA was the lack of EA knowledge, leadership and involvement of senior management.ConclusionThe adoption of EA is incipient in AeHIN member healthcare organisations. To encourage EA adoption, these organisations need to invest in internal capacity building, senior management training and seek independent EA expert advice to systematically identify and address the barriers to adopting EA.

scholarly journals A Survey Study of Audiology Services during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in South Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-363
Author(s):  
InOn Kim ◽  
Soo Hee Oh
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Educational Support ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Schedule Delay ◽  
Communication Difficulties ◽  
Level Reduction

Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has severely affected public health and people’s lifestyle. The purpose of this survey study is to investigate audiology services during COVID-19 pandemic to understand the current audiology service situations in Korea and to improve audiology services.Methods: A total of 120 participants (60 audiologists and 60 clients visiting audiologists) were surveyed in this study using online or face-to-face methods. The participants answered 24~25 questions including current status of audiology service, communication difficulties with wearing masks, and the provision of tele-audiology services during COVID-19.Results: The results showed that both audiologists and clients with hearing loss still preferred face-to-face audiology services in COVID-19 situation in spite of 56% of visiting schedule delay and cancellation. The primary audiology services they considered in COVID-19 were hearing aid fitting and maintenance & repair services. Wearing masks has led communication difficulties in both audiologists and clients with hearing loss due to speech level reduction, frequency filtering of sounds, and insufficient visual cues during the conversation. Only 30% of audiologists have provided tele-audiology services, and 4.4% of clients received tele-audiology services during COVID-19.Conclusion: The impacts of COVID-19 in audiology services in South Korea are still progressing. The technical and administrative systems and educational support to improve audiology services in South Korea are necessary.

scholarly journals Academia–industry digital health collaborations: A cross-cultural analysis of barriers and facilitators

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 205520761987862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea Liu ◽  
Shuai Shao ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Gary G. Bennett ◽  
Janet Prvu Bettger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Digital Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
High Income ◽  
Barriers And Facilitators ◽  
Communication Styles ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Business Outcomes ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Middle Income Countries

Background Development and uptake of digital health technologies benefit from cross-sectoral efforts from academia and industry. Our study aims to identify the barriers and facilitators associated with academia–industry collaborations in digital health in middle- and high-income countries. Methods Trained personnel conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 stakeholders who were active in industry, academia or both. Stakeholders were based in middle-income countries (including China) and high-income countries (including the United States) as defined by the World Bank. Interviews were conducted in the stakeholder’s language of choice (Chinese, n = 12; English, n = 11). Qualitative interview questions elicited perspectives on stakeholders’ experience with academia–industry collaboration, challenges faced, and factors that facilitated the process. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, thematically coded by bilingual coders and analyzed using inductive content analysis. Results Stakeholders in both academia and industry identified complementary roles, authentic communication between partners, and clearly outlined goals or expectations prior to the collaboration as primary facilitators for success. Misaligned goals or expectations, differences in timelines for productivity and difficulties balancing expectations for business outcomes versus generation of scientific evidence were identified as primary barriers. Stakeholders in high-income countries reported inauthentic communication as a significant barrier to collaboration, whereas those in middle-income countries did not. Conclusion Outlining and communicating openly about goals and expectations for timeline and priorities as well as establishing complementary roles will facilitate fruitful academia–industry collaborations in the future. Best practices for communication styles may be dependent on the cultural setting, and thus should be adopted accordingly.

scholarly journals How Women Use Digital Technologies for Health: Qualitative Interview and Focus Group Study (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Lupton ◽  
Sarah Maslen
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Health Related

BACKGROUND A range of digital technologies are available to lay people to find, share, and generate health-related information. Few studies have directed attention specifically to how women are using these technologies from the diverse array available to them. Even fewer have focused on Australian women’s use of digital health. OBJECTIVE The Australian Women and Digital Health Project aimed to investigate which types of digital technologies women used regularly for health-related purposes and which they found most helpful and useful. Qualitative methods—semistructured interviews and focus groups—were employed to shed light on the situated complexities of the participants’ enactments of digital health technologies. The project adopted a feminist new materialism theoretical perspective, focusing on the affordances, relational connections, and affective forces that came together to open up or close off the agential capacities generated with and through these enactments. METHODS The project comprised two separate studies including a total of 66 women. In study 1, 36 women living in the city of Canberra took part in face-to-face interviews and focus groups, while study 2 involved telephone interviews with 30 women from other areas of Australia. RESULTS The affordances of search engines to locate health information and websites and social media platforms for providing information and peer support were highly used and valued. Affective forces such as the desire for trust, motivation, empowerment, reassurance, control, care, and connection emerged in the participants’ accounts. Agential capacities generated with and through digital health technologies included the capacity to seek and generate information and create a better sense of knowledge and expertise about bodies, illness, and health care, including the women’s own bodies and health, that of their families and friends, and that of their often anonymous online social networks. The participants referred time and again to appreciating the feelings of agency and control that using digital health technologies afforded them. When the technologies failed to work as expected, these agential capacities were not realized. Women responded with feelings of frustration, disappointment, and annoyance, leading them to become disenchanted with the possibilities of the digital technologies they had tried. CONCLUSIONS The findings demonstrate the nuanced and complex ways in which the participants were engaging with and contributing to online sources of information and using these sources together with face-to-face encounters with doctors and other health care professionals and friends and family members. They highlight the lay forms of expertise that the women had developed in finding, assessing, and creating health knowledges. The study also emphasized the key role that many women play in providing advice and health care for family members not only as digitally engaged patients but also as digitally engaged carers.

Audiology India (Non-Governmental Organization): Background, Mission, and Accomplishments

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (17) ◽  
pp. 12-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinaya Manchaiah ◽  
Vijayalakshmi Easwar ◽  
Sriram Boothalingam ◽  
Spoorthi Thammaiah
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The Government

Hearing loss is a global health concern, particularly in the low- and middle-income countries. Some of the reasons for this include, higher prevalence of hearing loss in these countries, lack of adequate awareness on hearing loss and its consequences, limited access to hearing care services to in suburban/rural areas, and high cost of such services. To make matters worse, health care services provided by the government in developing countries such as India are limited, and services provided by for-profit institutions are expensive. Therefore, there is a need for other stakeholders (e.g., non-governmental organizations) to bridge this service gap. In this paper, we introduce Audiology India (AI) to readers, an organization that is striving to improve ear and hearing health care services in India. We begin this paper by providing an overview of the current status of hearing care services in India. Next, we describe the background of AI, its mission, and accomplishments. Briefly, the goals of AI are: (a) to provide community-based hearing care services to individuals with no access to mainstream ear-care; (b) to conduct campaigns to raise public awareness about hearing loss and avenues for its prevention; (c) to carry out need-based research to continuously fine-tune our services and advance audiology in India; and (d) to offer consultancy services related to ear and hearing care.

scholarly journals eHealth Technologies Enable more Accessible Hearing Care

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (02) ◽  
pp. 133-140
Author(s):  
De Wet Swanepoel
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Patient Journey ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Service Delivery Models ◽  
Traditional Service ◽  
Delivery Models ◽  
Low And Middle Income

AbstractHearing loss is a pervasive global health care burden affecting up to one in every seven persons of whom 90% reside in low- and middle-income countries. Traditional service-delivery models are unable to support and promote accessible and affordable hearing care in these setting. Major barriers include a severe shortage of hearing health care professionals, costs associated with equipment, facilities and treatments, and centralized service-delivery models. Convergence of digital and connectivity revolutions are combining to enable new ways of delivering decentralized audiological services along the entire patient journey using integrated eHealth solutions. eHealth technologies are allowing nonprofessionals in communities (e.g., community health workers) to provide hearing services with point-of-care devices at reduced cost with remote surveillance and support by professionals. A growing body of recent evidence showcases community-based hearing care within an integrated eHealth framework that addresses some of the barriers of traditional service-delivery models at reduced cost. Future research, especially in low- and middle-income countries, must explore eHealth-supported hearing care services from detection through to treatment.

Remote continuous care is superior to episodic care for depression: Digital health is the only way to deliver it (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
VALERIE FORMAN HOFFMAN ◽  
Joseph Kvedar ◽  
Kristian Ranta
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Single Treatment ◽  
Disease Treatment ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Optimal Outcomes ◽  
Continuous Care ◽  
Remote Care ◽  
Delivery Models

UNSTRUCTURED Abstract Depression is a burdensome and costly disease. Treatment is not sought by over half of depressed patients, and many who suffer remain depressed despite treatment. Furthermore, there is no single treatment efficacious for all patients, with optimal outcomes precluded by access, adherence, and patient satisfaction issues. The recent proliferation of telehealth solutions has increased access to care, especially during the COVID pandemic, but problems with several of its traditional types of delivery models still exist. Rather than the provision of traditional episodic mental health care, creative mental health solutions that can provide continuous care with frequent patient-provider interactions are urgently needed. This Viewpoint explores how digital health solutions enable the provision of continuous types of remote care to provide relief for some of the access and capacity problems exacerbated by requirements for face-to-face types of care.

PP135 Setting The Scope For Assessing e-Health Technologies In Hungary

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (S1) ◽  
pp. 63-63
Author(s):  
Bence Takács ◽  
Gergő Merész
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Assessment Approach

IntroductionE-health and m-health are emerging health technology fields that could possibly give a new scope to health technology assessment (HTA). The Division for Health Technology Assessment (DfHTA) is currently assessing medicines and non-drug technologies (medical devices intended for patient use or for use in hospitals). The experience assessing medical devices for use in hospitals yielded difficulties which could also arise from the critical appraisal of e-health or m-health technologies. The objective of this study was to explore the foundations for HTA guidance on e-health or m-health technologies.MethodsA targeted literature review was conducted to map the current status of technology assessment practices for e-health and m-health technologies and to assess its concordance with current reimbursement processes in countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Experiences from past evaluations of other medical devices that could not be evaluated under the current guidance guided the literature search. The findings of this research were used to create a recommendation to amend the current Hungarian Guideline for Health Economic Analyses.ResultsThe resulting articles of the targeted literature review provided an insight into current practices on of assessing e-health and m-health products, particularly with respect to the domains of safety, quality, and impact. Recommendations suggested including a list of requirements for companies to submit for critical evaluations of e-health and m-health technologies, in support of a self-assessment approach.ConclusionsAs for other HTA bodies, there is an urgent need for the DfHTA to increase its capacity to assess digital health technologies for entry into the healthcare system, with a focus on the relevant clinical domains. The reimbursement process for these technologies remains a challenge for public funding bodies.

scholarly journals The Rise of the Empowered Physician in the Digital Health Era: Viewpoint (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertalan Mesko ◽  
Zsuzsa Győrffy
Keyword(s):  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Healing Process ◽  
Patient Empowerment ◽  
Medical Professional ◽  
Physician Patient Relationship ◽  
Technological Transformation ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
The Cost

UNSTRUCTURED Being a 21st-century health care provider is extremely demanding. The growing number of chronic diseases, lack of medical workforce, increasing amounts of administrative tasks, the cost of medical treatment, and rising life expectancy result in an immense challenge for medical professionals. This transformation has been triggered by the growing presence of digital health. Digital health does not only refer to technological transformation; it also fundamentally reshapes the physician-patient relationship and treatment circumstances. We argue that patient empowerment, the spread of digital health, the biopsychosocial-digital approach, and the disappearance of the ivory tower of medicine lead to a new role for physicians. Digital health allows the job of being a medical professional to become more rewarding and creative. The characteristics of a physician-as-idol could shift from self-confident to curious, from rule follower to creative, and from lone hero to team worker. Empowered physicians (e-physicians) can be described as “electronic,” where they use digital technologies in their practice with ease; “enabled,” where they are enabled by regulations and guidelines; and “empowered,” where they are empowered by technologies that support their job and their empowered patients (e-patients). They can be described as “experts” in the use of technologies in their practice or in knowing the best, most reliable, and trustworthy digital health sources and technologies. They can also be described as “engaged,” when understanding the feelings and points of view of their patients, giving relevant feedback, and involving them throughout the whole healing process. The skills and approaches that characterize this era of e-physicians, such as face-to-face communication skills, digital literacy, interdisciplinarity, knowing where to find information, translating large amounts of data into insights for patients, among others, should always have been at the core of practicing medicine. However, the economical, technological, and administrative burden of the profession has not made it possible for most physicians to enjoy the benefits of their training, individual capabilities, and creativity. By understanding how digital health technologies can support or augment their capabilities, physicians would have the chance to practice the art of medicine like never before.

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