Healthcare Professionals’ Experience of Performing Digital Care Visits—A Scoping Review

Abstract

The use of digital care visits has been increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning more about healthcare professionals’ technology experiences provides valuable insight and a basis for improving digital visits. This study aimed to explore the existing literature on healthcare professionals’ experience performing digital care visits. A scoping review was performed following Arksey & O’Malley’s proposed framework using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses. The collected data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Five main themes were identified in the literature: positive experiences/benefits, facilitators, negative experiences/challenges, barriers, and suggestions for improvement. Healthcare professionals mostly reported having an overall positive experience with digital visits and discovered benefits for themselves and the patients. However, opinions were mixed or negative regarding the complexity of decision making, workload and workflow, suitability of this type of care, and other challenges. The suggestions for improvement included training and education, improvements within the system and tools, along with support for professionals. Despite overall positive experiences and benefits for both professionals and patients, clinicians reported challenges such as physical barriers, technical issues, suitability concerns, and others. Digital care visits could not fully replace face-to-face visits.

A Deep Dive into the Nexus between Digital Health and Life Sciences Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Editorial Expedition

“…All the other studies [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ] have dealt with the use of DH in the life sciences, which, in addition to bioengineering, touched by all, have examined, from time to time, other categories ( Table 1 ), such as Anatomy [ 8 , 11 ], Bioinformatics [ 14 , 16 ], Cell biology [ 8 , 11 ], Neuroscience [ 8 , 12 , 15 , 17 , 20 ], Physiology [ 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 ], Population biology [ 14 , 16 , 18 , 19 ], and others that are shown in Table 1 .…”

“…Two specific reviews addressed and overviewed the impact of DH in remote health care and healthcare interventions [ 18 , 19 ]. The impact of eHealth interventions on the improvement of self-care in chronic patients was overviewed in [ 18 ], while the healthcare professionals’ experience of reforming digital care visits was investigated in [ 19 ].…”

“…The published works on the DH, reported in the collection [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], demonstrate the usefulness of DH in connecting various branches of life sciences, especially during the pandemic. The use of DH in contact tracing has been particularly significant, with several studies reporting on its impact and factors influencing its use [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Additionally, DH applications have been used in biomedical diagnostics [ 8 , 11 ], physical activity [ 12 , 13 ], mental health monitoring [ 17 ], and remote healthcare interventions [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

“…Moreover, the support of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has further amplified the impact of DH in diagnostics [ 8 , 11 ], physical activity monitoring [ 12 ], obesity diagnosis [ 12 ], and healthcare interventions and determinants on the population [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”