Digital health for quality healthcare: A systematic mapping of review studies
To systematically catalogue review studies on digital health to establish extent of evidence on quality healthcare and illuminate gaps for new understanding, perspectives and insights for evidence-informed policies and practices.
MethodsWe systematically searched PubMed database using sensitive search strings. Two reviewers independently conducted two-phase selection via title and abstract, followed by full-text appraisal. Consensuses were derived for any discrepancies. A standardized data extraction tool was used for reliable data mining.
ResultsA total of 54 reviews from year 2014 to 2021 were included with notable increase in trend of publications. Systematic reviews constituted the majority (61.1%, (37.0% with meta-analyses)) followed by scoping reviews (38.9%). Domains of quality being reviewed include effectiveness (75.9%), accessibility (33.3%), patient safety (31.5%), efficiency (25.9%), patient-centred care (20.4%) and equity (16.7%). Mobile apps and computer-based were the commonest (79.6%) modalities. Strategies for effective intervention via digital health included engineering improved health behaviour (50.0%), better clinical assessment (35.1%), treatment compliance (33.3%) and enhanced coordination of care (24.1%). Psychiatry was the discipline with the most topics being reviewed for digital health (20.3%).
ConclusionDigital health reviews reported findings that were skewed towards improving the effectiveness of intervention via mHealth applications, and predominantly related to mental health and behavioural therapies. There were considerable gaps on review of evidence on digital health for cost efficiency, equitable healthcare and patient-centred care. Future empirical and review studies may investigate the association between fields of practice and tendency to adopt and research the use of digital health to improve care.
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AUTHORS (6)
CATEGORIES
- Health and Community Services
- Cardiology
- Endocrinology
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Nursing not elsewhere classified
- Oncology and Carcinogenesis not elsewhere classified
- Aged Health Care
- Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified
- Engineering not elsewhere classified
- Anthropology
- Cultural Studies not elsewhere classified
- Information and Computing Sciences not elsewhere classified
- Organisation and Management Theory
- Science Policy
- Social Policy
- Sociology