The paradoxes of telehealth platforms: what did we learn from the use of telehealth platforms?
Bouabida K, Lebouché B, Pomey MP. The paradoxes of telehealth platforms: what did we learn from the use of telehealth platforms? PERSPECTIVE article. Front. Digit. Health. Sec. Health Technology Implementation. Volume 6 - 2024; doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2024.1346039.
Keywords: Health. Sec. Health Technology Implementation. Volume 6 – 2024
Context
The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for action to reduce the spread of the virus and reduce congestion in health services, protect caregivers, and help them maintain satisfactory quality and safety of care. Telecare and telemonitoring platforms quickly emerged as potential solutions. Thus, at the University of Montreal Hospital Center, three platforms have been set up: (1) remote assistance (Telecare-Covid) provided by nurses and doctors by telephone calls, and (2) remote monitoring (CareSimple-Covid) which allows remote monitoring of the patient at home, and (3) a teleconsultation platform (React-Teleconsultation) to carry out visual consultations between professionals and patients. In this context, two cross-sectional studies were performed between July and September 2020. The first was carried out with patients who had used one of the two, Telecare-Covid and CareSimple-Covid platforms. Questionnaires were given to the patients by telephone. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test analysis. The second focuses on the use by professionals of Telecare-Covid and React-Téléconsultation. The data was collected by email from healthcare professionals. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. Fisher analyses were performed to compare perceptions of performance, safety and quality, issues, and perceived problems among healthcare professionals. In this paper, and after completing the two articles previously published (1, 2), we directly present a critical reflection of certain dimensions that could be perceived as paradoxes that emerged from our study. Even though the study has been performed during the global pandemic context of COVID-19, the 7 paradoxes we present may still be worth consideration in a normal global context. All these paradoxes are legitimate and carry with them certain questions worth asking and some dilemmas that can be addressed
This content has been updated on 6 April 2024 at 12 h 53 min.