Telemedicine: Issues in the Analysis of Its Use in Elderly People and in People with Disabilities, According to the Perspective of the Clinical Psychology of Disability

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has led to a sudden increase in the speed of the digitization process, which has affected several areas of life (public administration, schools, universities, and healthcare, and extending to so-called “digital citizenship”) [...]

Telemedicine, e-Health, and Digital Health Equity: A Scoping Review

“…Some peculiar risks have also been described for healthcare professionals; they can meet some difficulties in performing clinical skills through the tools of Telemedicine (devices, software, e-platforms, and e-environments) and they can need some specific training and/or support to transfer their skills on those tools and e-environments [ 8 ].…”

“…In this general framework, Telemedicine and e-Health represent the two main e-environments in the healthcare context where the risks of inequity could be described [ 8 ]. Telemedicine refers to the provision of healthcare in situations where the health professional and the patient are not in the same physical location; in clinical-diagnostic-therapeutic evaluation, it is a clinical path in which digital remote interactive communication is established.…”

“…Since the 1990s, this term has been used to describe the use of technologies and the Internet to enhance or provide access to knowledge and services in healthcare settings. Today, this concept has been extended to include the experience of all the “actors” involved and to include services, products, processes, and all the infrastructures involved in digitization in the healthcare sector [ 8 ].…”

“…Although the digitization process was slow and gradual in the last decade, in the last three years, this process has had a sudden and quick acceleration during the COVID-19 pandemic; the methods and tools of Telemedicine and the use of e-Health have spread to guarantee a continuity, albeit partial, in the provision of health services [ 9 - 11 ]. All this has been possible thanks to an emergency modification of the methods and regulations previously defined and this has made it possible to highlight virtuous phenomena and positive processes, and also to discover possible risks [ 8 - 15 ]. Innovations in digital health, Telemedicine, and e-Health have shown great potential in the promotion of health outcomes, but there can be unintended consequences related to the risk of inequalities [ 16 ].…”

Digital determinants of health as a way to address multilevel complex causal model in the promotion of Digital health equity and the prevention of digital health inequities: A scoping review

“…According to the so-called risk of "digital paradox," people which could have the better support from digitization process, can also incur the higher risk of difficulty in accessing to services, information and they can have an higher risk of exclusion from digital health if all the elements and variables that can influence the use and the access to, are not correctly taken into account. [13][14][15][16] Otherwhere, we discussed about the so-called "Digital Health Equity" in the use of Telemedicine and e-Health, on its definition and on the need to better understand the complex causal model on its base, with the aims to promote it and to prevent inequities (Petretto et al, submitted). From this regard, according to some other authors, we claimed that it is very important to acquire a deeper knowledge and awareness about critical loci in promoting health equity and preventing health inequities in Telemedicine and e-Health environments.…”