Telehealth during COVID-19 pandemic era: a systematic review

Jonathan Kissi; Daniel Kwame Kwansah Quansah; Jonathan Aseye Nutakor; Alex Boadi Dankyi; Yvette Adu-Gyamfi; Jonathan Kissi; Daniel Kwame Kwansah Quansah; Jonathan Aseye Nutakor; Alex Boadi Dankyi; Yvette Adu-Gyamfi

doi:10.3934/medsci.2022008

AIMS Medical Science

2022, Volume 9, Issue 1: 81-97. doi: 10.3934/medsci.2022008

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Review

Telehealth during COVID-19 pandemic era: a systematic review

1.
Department of Health Information Management, College of Health and Allied Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
2.
Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Management, Jiangsu University, China
3.
Department of Research and Innovation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

Received: 10 December 2021 Revised: 06 March 2022 Accepted: 14 March 2022 Published: 23 March 2022

Background
Across the globe, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has altered the delivery of healthcare services as patients must maintain their distance from caregivers, and still receive medical treatment. This has triggered a necessity for exploring means which minimizes the physical gap between patients and healthcare givers while offering health care and ensuring high medical protection at a reduced risk of exposure. Even though telehealth services are no replacement for conventional healthcare, its' usefulness in the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is immense.

Objective
This research reviews the ardent utilization, barriers and recommendations with telehealth services for healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods
An assessment of literature in five large digital databases; PubMed, Science Direct, Sage Pub, ProQuest, and Google Scholar was conducted. Inclusion criteria included studies defining telehealth/telemedicine, utilization, barriers and recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic from January 2020 to July 2021, written in English and published in peer-reviewed journals. Two reviewers independently assessed search results, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. Narrative synthesis was undertaken to summarize and report the findings.

Results
Overall, the study discoveries which are most commonly stated as impediments for telehealth services' full utilization between patients and physicians beyond the scope of typical medical confinement are: infrastructure and internet access (20.00%), data privacy and security (13.33%), digital literacy (13.33%), reimbursement and liability (10.00%), and clinician and patient's unwillingness (6.67%).

Conclusions
The intrusion of coronavirus has accelerated the transition to telehealth services in healthcare delivery, but it has also provided a unique chance to demonstrate the critical role that telehealth can play in ensuring that people of all races, ethnicities, and communities receive high-quality treatment (justice). Healthcare professionals should emphasize the effectiveness of telehealth services as an alternate healthcare delivery method in promoting healthcare to all populace.
- coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,
- telemedicine,
- telehealth,
- barriers,
- utilization,
- recommendation
Citation: Jonathan Kissi, Daniel Kwame Kwansah Quansah, Jonathan Aseye Nutakor, Alex Boadi Dankyi, Yvette Adu-Gyamfi. Telehealth during COVID-19 pandemic era: a systematic review[J]. AIMS Medical Science, 2022, 9(1): 81-97. doi: 10.3934/medsci.2022008

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Abstract

Background

Across the globe, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has altered the delivery of healthcare services as patients must maintain their distance from caregivers, and still receive medical treatment. This has triggered a necessity for exploring means which minimizes the physical gap between patients and healthcare givers while offering health care and ensuring high medical protection at a reduced risk of exposure. Even though telehealth services are no replacement for conventional healthcare, its' usefulness in the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is immense.

Objective

This research reviews the ardent utilization, barriers and recommendations with telehealth services for healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

An assessment of literature in five large digital databases; PubMed, Science Direct, Sage Pub, ProQuest, and Google Scholar was conducted. Inclusion criteria included studies defining telehealth/telemedicine, utilization, barriers and recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic from January 2020 to July 2021, written in English and published in peer-reviewed journals. Two reviewers independently assessed search results, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. Narrative synthesis was undertaken to summarize and report the findings.

Results

Overall, the study discoveries which are most commonly stated as impediments for telehealth services' full utilization between patients and physicians beyond the scope of typical medical confinement are: infrastructure and internet access (20.00%), data privacy and security (13.33%), digital literacy (13.33%), reimbursement and liability (10.00%), and clinician and patient's unwillingness (6.67%).

Conclusions

The intrusion of coronavirus has accelerated the transition to telehealth services in healthcare delivery, but it has also provided a unique chance to demonstrate the critical role that telehealth can play in ensuring that people of all races, ethnicities, and communities receive high-quality treatment (justice). Healthcare professionals should emphasize the effectiveness of telehealth services as an alternate healthcare delivery method in promoting healthcare to all populace.

Acknowledgments

We wish to render our sincere gratitude to the Management and Staff of Health Information Management, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cape Coast for their time and contributions during the period of this research.

Authors' contributions

Conceptualization: JK; formal analysis, investigation, and data curation: JK, DKKQ, JAN and YAG; formal data analysis and results interpretation: JK and YAG; writing, original draft preparation: JK; writing, review and editing: JAN and ABD.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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