How Has COVID-19 Changed the Way We Do Virtual Care? A Scoping Review Protocol

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic created worldwide interest and use of virtual care to support public health measures and reduce the spread of infection. While some forms of virtual care have been used prior to COVID-19 such as telemedicine, little is known about other virtual modalities such as video conferencing, wearables and other digital technologies. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an opportunity to question the efficacy and safety of virtual care, especially in terms of patient outcomes among those self-isolating. The purpose of this scoping review is to examine the safety of virtual care among active COVID-19 patients in the community and examine the types and dose of virtual care. Finally, this review will examine what patient outcomes are identified from interventions delivered virtually to treat COVID-19. We followed a systematic process guided by the PRISMA checklist for scoping reviews with a comprehensive search strategy across four bibliographic databases and handsearching reference lists. We undertook a blinded, two-stage screening process with eligibility criteria. All citations and screening were managed using the DistillerSR software. Data were extracted using a data extraction tool developed for this project. The conclusions from this review will offer greater understanding for how virtual care can be used among community-based COVID-19 patients.

What are COVID-19 Patient Preferences for and Experiences with Virtual Care? Findings From a Scoping Review

“…Following 2 levels of screening, 19 articles meeting the eligibility criteria were included. 23 Table 1 presents an outline of the included articles and whether patient experiences and/or preferences were addressed. Only 1 study indicated patient experience as a primary outcome.…”

“…25 The complete methods for the scoping review were published separately as a protocol. 23 In consultation with a health librarian, a comprehensive search strategy was developed. Four bibliographic databases (CINAHL, Medline, Emcare, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) were searched between January 30, 2022 and February 3, 2022 for literature published in English between 2020 and 2022.…”

“…We conducted a scoping review to better understand how virtual modalities were used for COVID-19 patients who were self-isolating in the community. 23 This paper took this scoping review data and examined the extent to which patient experiences and preferences were considered for community-based self-isolating COVID-19 patients who received virtual care. Findings about the type and dose of virtual care, range of technologies employed, disciplines of healthcare providers, and patient clinical outcomes were reported separately.…”

Autism Spectrum as an Etiologic Systemic Disorder: A Protocol for an Umbrella Review

“…Moreover, other researchers might benefit from accessing this kind of publication to help structure methodological reproducibility for umbrella reviews in mental or psychiatric conditions [ 39 , 40 ]. Even though the definition of research questions, population, outputs, and timeframe, are well described in the PICOT table, in previous protocols, researchers report a moderate level of disagreement about which articles to include or exclude [ 35 ]. This suggests that reliability across researchers should be improved after further meetings to discuss disagreements under this protocol application…”

“…To summarize the process, a PRISMA flowchart presenting the sequence of manuscripts selected at each screening level will be included according to the procedures of several authors, such as Catallo et al, 2022 [ 35 ].…”