A Scoping Review of Telehealth

Summary

Objectives: This scoping review of the telehealth literature over the past year was conducted to provide a snapshot of some of the current developments in the field. As with any scoping review, only a subset of papers was examined, and the rigorous methods of a systematic review are not applied.

Methods: We surveyed selected dimensions of the current literature, specifically targeting telehealth or eHealth interventions at the patient (or micro) level in this scoping review. Considering the lack of clarity around the terms like mHealth, eHealth, telehealth, and telemedicine, efforts were made understand and harmonize the terminology as part of the review process.

Results: A total of 171 papers that matched the search criteria were culled from the literature. After discussion and debate, a total of 26 papers were retained and classified into at least one of 5 conceptual categories that were derived form a concept analysis. The five categories are Preventive and Therapeutic Effects; Health Service Utilization; Challenges & Opportunities for Enhanced User Centered Design; Low-powered studies/inconclusive evidence; and Future trends in telehealth. Each of these 5 concept categories are discussed to provide a better understanding of present opportunities, challenges, and the overall prospects for telehealth advancement.

Conclusions: The field is expanding and maturing rapidly. There is a need for larger scale studies that balance rigor while reducing translational latency. Additional attention to implementation science methods is recommended as global telehealth projects accelerate.

Keywords

Telehealth - eHealth - implementation science - mHealth - global health

 

• References

• 1 Armstrong R, Hall BJ, Doyle J, Waters E. Cochrane Update. 'Scoping the scope' of a cochrane review. J Public Health (Oxf) 2011; 33 (1) 147-50.
• 2 What is Telemedicine? American Telemedicine Assoiciation. n.d. [updated n.d.; cited 2013 Jan 23] Available from: http://www.americantelemed.org/learn/what-is-telemedicine
• 3 Welcome to Telescope: Telehealth Services Code Of Practice for Europe. European Telehealth Code. n.d. [updated n.d.; cited 2013 Feb 1] Available from: http://www.telehealthcode.eu
• 4 Della Mea V. What is e-health (2): the death of telemedicine?. J Med Internet Res 2001; 3 (2) E22. PMCID: 1761900.
• 5 European Commission eHealth Defined. Accessed 6/1/1013 at: http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/care_for_me/e-health/
• 6 Hogberg U. The World Health Report 2005: “make every mother and child count” — including Africans. Scand J Public Health 2005; 33 (6) 409-11.
• 7 Progress on eHealth in a Global Context. Pan American Health Organization. n.d. [updated n.d.; cited 2013 Feb 1] Available from: http://new.paho.org/ict4health/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=159%3Aavances-de-esalud-en-un-contexto-global&catid=42%3Aseccion-qen-otras-regiones-de-la-omsq&Itemid=64&lang=en
• 8 What is mHealth? Health Resources and Services Administration. n.d. [updated n.d.; cited 2013 Jan 22] Available from: http://www.hrsa.gov/healthit/ mhealth.html
• 9 Abbott PA, Coenen A. Globalization and advances in information and communication technologies: the impact on nursing and health. Nurs Outlook 2008; 56 (5) 238-46 e2.
• 10 Fatehi F, Wootton R. Telemedicine, telehealth or e-health? A bibliometric analysis of the trends in the use of these terms. J Telemed Telecare 2012; 18 (8) 460-4.
• 11 Piette JD, Lun KC, Moura Jr. LA, Fraser HS, Mechael PN, Powell J. et al. Impacts of e-health on the outcomes of care in low- and middle-income countries: where do we go from here?. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2012; 90 (5) 365-72. PMCID: 3341688.
• 12 Toure HI. GETHealth Global Education & Technology Health Summit Opening Keynote. International Telecommunication Union. 2013 [updated 2013 cited 2013 Feb 6] Available from: http://www.itu.int/en/osg/speeches/Pages/2013-02-19.aspx A Scoping Review of Telehealth.
• 13 Friedman CP, Wyatt J. SpringerLink Evaluation methods in biomedical informatics. New York, London: Springer; 2006
• 14 Cassimatis M, Kavanagh DJ. Effects of type 2 diabetes behavioural telehealth interventions on glycaemic control and adherence: a systematic review. J Telemed Telecare 2012; 18 (8) 447-50.
• 15 Holtz B, Lauckner C. Diabetes management via mobile phones: a systematic review. Telemed J E Health 2012; 18 (3) 175-84.
• 16 Lewis ER, Thomas CA, Wilson ML, Mbarika VW. Telemedicine in acute-phase injury management: a review of practice and advancements. Telemed J E Health 2012; 18 (6) 434-45. PMCID: 3399110.
• 17 McLean S, Nurmatov U, Liu JL, Pagliari C, Car J. Sheikh A. Telehealthcare for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Cochrane Review and me- ta-analysis. Br J Gen Pract 2012; 62 (604) e739-49. PMCID: 3481514.
• 18 Sucala M, Schnur JB, Constantino MJ, Miller SJ, Brackman EH, Montgomery GH. The therapeutic relationship in e-therapy for mental health: a systematic review. J Med Internet Res 2012; 14 (4) e110. PMCID: 3411180.
• 19 Whittaker R, McRobbie H, Bullen C, Borland R, Rodgers A, Gu Y. Mobile phone-based interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 11. CD006611.
• 20 Wilcox ME, Adhikari NK. The effect of telemedicine in critically ill patients: systematic review and meta-analysis. Crit Care 2012; 16 (4) R127.
• 21 Bursell SE, Brazionis L, Jenkins A. Telemedicine and ocular health in diabetes mellitus. Clin Exp Optom 2012; 95 (3) 311-27.
• 22 Harris MA, Hood KK, Mulvaney SA. Pumpers, skypers, surfers and texters: technology to improve the management of diabetes in teenagers. Diabetes Obes Metab 2012; 14 (11) 967-72.
• 23 Shore J, Kaufmann LJ, Brooks E, Bair B, Dailey N, Richardson Jr. WJ. et al. Review of American Indian veteran telemental health. Telemed J E ealth 2012; 18 (2) 87-94.
• 24 Steventon A, Bardsley M, Billings J, Dixon J, Doll H, Hirani S. et al. Effect of telehealth on use of secondary care and mortality: findings from the Whole System Demonstrator cluster randomised trial. BMJ 2012; 344 (jun21 3) e3874-e.
• 25 Acosta-Lobos A, Riley JP, Cowie MR. Current and future technologies for remote monitoring in cardiology and evidence from trial data. Future Cardiol 2012; 8 (3) 425-37.
• 26 Bui AL, Fonarow GC. Home monitoring for heart failure management. J Am Coll Cardiol 2012; 59 (2) 97-104. PMCID: 3254025.
• 27 Huckvale K, Car M, Morrison C, Car J. Apps for asthma self-management: a systematic assessment of content and tools. BMC Med 2012; 10: 144. PMCID: 3523082.
• 28 van den Berg N, Schumann M, Kraft K, Hoffmann W. Telemedicine and telecare for older patients--a systematic review. Maturitas 2012; 73 (2) 94-114.
• 29 McGeary DD, McGeary CA, Gatchel RJ. A comprehensive review of telehealth for pain management: where we are and the way ahead. Pain Pract 2012; 12 (7) 570-7.
• 30 Chiang LC, Chen WC, Dai YT, Ho YL. The effectiveness of telehealth care on caregiver burden, mastery of stress, and family function among family caregivers of heart failure patients: a quasi-experimental study. Int J Nurs Stud 2012; 49 (10) 1230-42.
• 31 Young LB. Telemedicine interventions for substance-use disorder: a literature review. J Telemed Telecare 2012; 18 (1) 47-53.
• 32 Car J, Gurol-Urganci I, de Jongh T, Vodopivec-Jamsek V, Atun R. Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 7. CD007458.
• 33 Nimmon L, Poureslami I, Fitzgerald JM. What counts as cultural competency in telehealth interventions? A call for new directions. J Telemed elecare 2012; 18 (7) 425-6.
• 34 Collins SA, Currie LM, Bakken S, Vawdrey DK, Stone PW. Health literacy screening instruments for eHealth applications: a systematic review. J Biomed Inform 2012; 45 (3) 598-607. PMCID: 3371171.
• 35 Nagler RH, Ramanadhan S, Minsky S, Viswanath K. Recruitment and Retention for Community-Based eHealth Interventions with Populations of Low Socioeconomic Position: Strategies and Challenges. Journal of Communication 2013; 63 (1) 201-20.
• 36 Shapiro M, Johnston D, Wald J, Mon D. Patient-Generated Health Data. 2012
• 37 Ho K, Binfet JT, Cordeiro J, Lauscher HN. Public Engagement in eHealth: Toward Improving Equity in Health Evidence and Health System Renewal. 2012 p. 177-88.
• 38 Rietdijk R, Togher L, Power E. Supporting family members of people with traumatic brain injury using telehealth: a systematic review. J Rehabil Med 2012; 44 (11) 913-21.
• 39 Ciere Y, Cartwright M, Newman SP. A systematic review of the mediating role of knowledge, self-efficacy and self-care behaviour in telehealth patients with heart failure. J Telemed Telecare 2012; 18 (7) 384-91.
• 40 Paone S., Shevchik G.. Making a Business Case for eHealth and Teleservices. In: Kumar S, Cohn ER. Telerehabilitation (Health Informatics). Springer; 2012. p. 297-309.