Impact and future of telemedicine amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review of the state-of-the-art in Latin America

Abstract

Significant progress has been made in using information and communication technologies in medicine, by impacting the quality of health-care delivery system and patient care, and paving the way for ground-breaking tools for e-health and clinical decision-support systems. This study investigates the extent to which the evolution of telemedicine applications has been used to support patient care in Latin America (LATAM) amidst the pandemic. Theoretically, the study applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology to identify the impact of telemedicine in the region. Practically, the paper provides a systematic mapping study of the different domain areas and methodological progress in Telemedicine that occurred during the pandemic, and applied a text mining technique to understand the intensities of the terms expressed by the analyzed studies. The results show that while telemedicine has not been extensively used, a greater percentage of the studies report that telemedicine was effective. Approximately 70% positive emotional valence score was found. The paper also provides an empirical discussion and recommendations for the next steps in ample adoption of telemedicine.

Optimizing Telehealth Strategies for Rehabilitation

“…17,18 In Europe, the telemedicine market has tripled from almost $4 billion to $13 billion in 2019 alone, which is a very significant and different growth from that of other countries with less significant economic resources. 19 This increase can also be seen throughout Latin America, where both public and private health centers are increasing their telemedicine services, reducing the cost of care, reaching a greater number of people, and avoiding crowds of people in health services. 20 The main objective of this research is to examine the experiences and perspectives of rural physiotherapists and their preferences regarding telehealth strategies.…”

“…In Europe, the telemedicine market has tripled from almost $4 billion to $13 billion in 2019 alone, which is a very significant and different growth from that of other countries with less significant economic resources 19…”

Telemedicine Management: Approaches and Perspectives—A Review of the Scientific Literature of the Last 10 Years

“…Furthermore, this approach is supported by a study by [ 63 ] who argue that pandemics pose significant challenges to health care, especially in vulnerable countries such as those in Latin America, which experienced during SARS-CoV-2 a high occupational risk generated by the saturation of health services and the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers. This required the implementation of strategies to respond efficiently to the health emergency.…”

Teleaborto: direito ao acesso à justiça reprodutiva no Brasil

“…É importante demarcar que a telemedicina trouxe uma via de mão dupla porque, ao mesmo tempo em que estudos apontam os êxitos e boas percepções do atendimento pelo usuário do serviço (LARA et al, 2022;NIEBLAS et al, 2022), também pode privar essas mesmas pessoas do melhor tratamento médico disponível. A exemplo disso, o estudo elaborado por Kamano et al (2022) concluiu ser inadequada a prática de telemedicina para acompanhamento de casos de triquíase.…”