Outcomes of using telehealth for the provision of healthcare to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: a systematic review

Abstract

Objective: To examine reported outcomes of health services delivered by telehealth to Indigenous Australians.Methods: Systematic review of the literature. Searches were conducted to identify articles that reported a telehealth service used to provide clinical services to Indigenous Australians. Articles were screened for inclusion using pre-defined criteria. Findings were synthesised narratively and reported using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.Results: 14 articles, describing 11 distinct telehealth services, were selected based on the inclusion criteria. Authors of included studies report that telehealth has improved social and emotional wellbeing, clinical outcomes and access to health services for Indigenous Australians. Further, it has reduced travel and improved screening rates. Indigenous people report positive perceptions of their telehealth interaction. Conclusion:Telehealth is used to address poor accessibility to health services and for targeted screening programs for at risk populations. Reported outcomes from existing services demonstrate the potential of telehealth for health service delivery for Indigenous Australians. Confidence in the findings of this review is reduced by the predominance of descriptive studies and small sample sizes in many of the included articles.Implications: Telehealth models of care facilitated through partnerships between Aboriginal community-controlled health services and public hospitals may improve both patient outcomes and access to specialist services for Indigenous people.

Diabetic retinopathy in a remote Indigenous primary healthcare population: a Central Australian diabetic retinopathy screening study in the Telehealth Eye and Associated Medical Services Network project

“…Telehealth, the provision of health‐related services and information using telecommunication‐based technologies, is under‐utilized and has been adopted in few Australian government‐funded initiatives. The primary exception is videoconference consultations between a specialist clinician and patient . This is in stark contrast to the high uptake of mobile health by individuals, globally .…”

Telehealth a game changer: closing the gap in remote Aboriginal communities

“…Telehealth is contributing to positive changes in our health system and this is evidenced in our recent studies highlighting the value of telehealth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A systematic review of the outcomes of using telehealth for the provision of care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported improved social and emotional wellbeing, clinical outcomes and access to health services . Other benefits included improved screening rates and reduced need for travel .…”

An evaluation of a telehealth-based specialist consultation service for Indigenous people living with diabetes in Queensland

“…The DRUID study reported above showed an inverse relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and diabetes among younger Indigenous clients. This relationship was true even when the diagnosis of diabetes was not apparent in the younger client group 37 . Such an inverse correlation related to the SES directs the need for distinctly separate care programs dependent on the age of the client and also considering their social circumstances.…”

“…Several telehealth interventions for Indigenous Australians have been successfully used to date in mental health care, oncology services, and retinopathy screening 69 . Based on these findings, it seems logical to extrapolate that telehealth can be a useful option for Indigenous patients with diabetes, for their continued care.…”

“…All specialists identified the local health worker to be extremely important for a clinical subspecialty to be delivered successfully. The usefulness of the local health worker in the remote Indigenous health setting is well-identified 69,131 . At the remote end, the Indigenous health worker is the bridge between the traditional western health service and the remote Indigenous community 132 .…”