Designing digital health applications for climate change mitigation and adaptation

Lokmic-Tomkins, Zerina; Borda, Ann; Humphrey, Kimberly

doi:10.5694/mja2.51826

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…Even though communication via digital technologies failed in July 2021, digitalization is often seen as one of the ways to make the healthcare system more resilient to future events [ 42 , 43 ]. Since it is certain that extreme weather events, such as extreme precipitation, will occur more frequently in the future [ 44 ], there is a need to increase natural disaster preparedness especially of critical infrastructure, such as the healthcare system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As digital health technology (DHT) becomes increasingly important during natural disasters, its potential to improve outpatient care should be evaluated. In previous natural disasters in the United States or Australia, DHT was used to sustain ambulatory care through video consultations, provide medications via e-prescriptions, and share medical data through electronic medical records [ 42 , 43 ]. However, the aftermath of the 2021 flood exposed DHT's vulnerability to disrupted connectivity, highlighting the need for DHT to become more climate resilient.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of the 2021 flood on the outpatient care in the North Rhine region, Germany: a cross-sectional study

Wiesehahn,

Kaifie

2024

BMC Public Health

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Background In the summer of 2021, heavy precipitation led to extreme flooding across Western Europe. In Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate were particularly affected. More than 180 people lost their lives, and over 700 were left injured and traumatized. In the North Rhine district alone, more than 120 practices were only able to operate to a limited extent or had to close their practices completely. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the 2021 flood on the outpatient care in the North Rhine region. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2022 in practices affected by the flood in the North Rhine region. For this purpose, 210 affected practices were identified using a list of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians for North Rhine (KVNO) and via telephone and/or e-mail. These practices were forwarded a questionnaire that addressed, among other things, the local accessibility of the practices before and after the flood, possibilities of patient care in different premises and received support. Results A total of 103 practices (49.1%) returned the completed questionnaire, of which 1/4 were general practitioners. 97% of the practices reported power failure, more than 50% water supply damage and nearly 40% the loss of patient records. 76% of the participating practices stated that they needed to close their practice at least temporarily. 30 doctors took up patient care in alternative premises. The average number of patients seen by doctors per week before the flood was 206.5. In the first week working in alternative premises, doctors saw an average of 66.2 patients (-50.3%). Especially elderly/geriatric patients and patients with disabilities were identified as particularly vulnerable in terms of access to health care after the flood. Conclusions The flood had a significant negative impact on outpatient care. We determined not only a high number of closed practices and a large decrease in patient numbers but also differences in patient care assessment depending on the type of alternative premises. To address outpatient care disruptions after extreme weather events more effectively, appropriate measures should be implemented pre-emptively.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the 2021 flood on the outpatient care in the North Rhine region, Germany: a cross-sectional study

Wiesehahn,

Kaifie

2024

BMC Public Health

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“…Thus, by leveraging telemedicine and mobile health services, key health information, health access and referral gaps can be addressed, ensuring continuity of care for women and girls living in remote or affected communities or displaced by climate events 22,23,89,115,116 . Moreover, digitalization is key to creating low carbon-emitting healthcare systems and thus addressing the health sector's 5% share of global greenhouse gas emissions [120][121][122] . Going forward, it is therefore important to invest in implementation research as well as digital solutions seeking to address the intersection between climate and women's health and rights.…”

Section: Technology For Women's Health and Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women’s health and rights in the twenty-first century

Ojong,

Temmerman,

Khosla

et al. 2024

Nat Med

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“…For example, DHTs can facilitate the integration of climate and health data for a dashboard visualisation to monitor impacts, modelling to predict climate-related impacts on health, and as decision support tools to provide alerts for potential heat events [12]. However, to meet this goal, DHTs needs to be designed to be environmentally sustainable [13,14], as they have a carbon footprint and generate a large volume of environmentally damaging e-waste, which is often sub-optimally managed [15,16]. Though it is not the purpose of this paper, it is critical to recognise that though DHTs can contribute to disaster responses, DHTs need to be designed in a way that does not further contribute to the climate disaster [14].…”

Section: Digital Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons Learned from Natural Disasters around Digital Health Technologies and Delivering Quality Healthcare

Lokmic-Tomkins

Bhandari

Bain

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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As climate change drives increased intensity, duration and severity of weather-related events that can lead to natural disasters and mass casualties, innovative approaches are needed to develop climate-resilient healthcare systems that can deliver safe, quality healthcare under non-optimal conditions, especially in remote or underserved areas. Digital health technologies are touted as a potential contributor to healthcare climate change adaptation and mitigation, through improved access to healthcare, reduced inefficiencies, reduced costs, and increased portability of patient information. Under normal operating conditions, these systems are employed to deliver personalised healthcare and better patient and consumer involvement in their health and well-being. During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health technologies were rapidly implemented on a mass scale in many settings to deliver healthcare in compliance with public health interventions, including lockdowns. However, the resilience and effectiveness of digital health technologies in the face of the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters remain to be determined. In this review, using the mixed-methods review methodology, we seek to map what is known about digital health resilience in the context of natural disasters using case studies to demonstrate what works and what does not and to propose future directions to build climate-resilient digital health interventions.

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Designing digital health applications for climate change mitigation and adaptation

Cited by 13 publications

References 16 publications

The impact of the 2021 flood on the outpatient care in the North Rhine region, Germany: a cross-sectional study

The impact of the 2021 flood on the outpatient care in the North Rhine region, Germany: a cross-sectional study

Women’s health and rights in the twenty-first century

Lessons Learned from Natural Disasters around Digital Health Technologies and Delivering Quality Healthcare

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