- Authors: Luís Velez Lapão, Mariana Peyroteo, Melanie Maia, Jorge Seixas, João Gregório, Miguel Mira da Silva, Bruno Heleno, Jorge César Correia
- Publication Year: 2021
- Journal: Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(8), art e24181
- Link: https://doi.org/10.2196/24181
ABSTRACT
‘Background:’
The COVID-19 pandemic is straining health systems and disrupting the delivery of health care services, in particular, for older adults and people with chronic conditions, who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.
‘Objective:’
The aim of this project was to support primary health care provision with a digital health platform that will allow primary care physicians and nurses to remotely manage the care of patients with chronic diseases or COVID-19 infections.
‘Methods:’
For the rapid design and implementation of a digital platform to support primary health care services, we followed the Design Science implementation framework: (1) problem identification and motivation, (2) definition of the objectives aligned with goal-oriented care, (3) artefact design and development based on Scrum, (4) solution demonstration, (5) evaluation, and (6) communication.
‘Results:’
The digital platform was developed for the specific objectives of the project and successfully piloted in 3 primary health care centers in the Lisbon Health Region. Health professionals (n=53) were able to remotely manage their first patients safely and thoroughly, with high degrees of satisfaction.
‘Conclusions:’
Although still in the first steps of implementation, its positive uptake, by both health care providers and patients, is a promising result. There were several limitations including the low number of participating health care units. Further research is planned to deploy the platform to many more primary health care centers and evaluate the impact on patient’s health related outcomes.
KEYWORDS
primary healthcare; information systems; telemedicine; implementation; design science research; COVID-19; monitoring; chronic disease; elderly; digital health.