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- Title
Use of Telehealth Resources in Primary Care and Its Association with Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
- Authors
Matta-Machado, Antonio Thomaz Gonzaga da; Pinto, Rafaela da Silveira; Peixoto, Rogéli Tibúrcio Ribeiro da Cunha; Perillo, Rosângela Durso; Borde, Elis Mina Seraya; Freitas, Mariana Abreu Caporali de; Macieira, César; Senna, Maria Inês Barreiros; Godoy, Solange Cervinho Bicalho; Aguiar, Raphael Augusto Teixeira de; Santos, Delba Fonseca; Dramos, Liliana Maria Madeira; Oliveira, Veneza Berenice de; Santos, Alaneir de Fátima dos
- Abstract
Introduction:Use of telehealth (TH) resources increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study set out to examine associations between the level of integration of TH resources and the level of Primary Health Care (PHC) structuring to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Methods:This work was a cross-sectional study conducted through the application of a semistructured questionnaire to a sample of 260 PHC Teams working in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from September to December 2020. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee and logged under report number 44.294.637. Results:Two variables were created - Level of the PHC structuring to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and Level of TH structuring. Variables were grouped into five categories (poor to excellent). Associations between variables were examined using the Tukey's test for multiple comparisons and the Spearman correlation coefficient. Variables associated with socioeconomic dimensions (human development index and Gini index) and health care were also analyzed. Levels of TH structuring in PHC ranged from poor (43%) to regular (40%) in most cases. Most PHC teams had regular (56%) or good (37%) levels of PHC structuring to deal with the pandemic. The greater the availability and use of TH resources at a given unit, the better the structure to face COVID-19 (0.45 – p < 0.001). Conclusion:PHC was structured to tackle the pandemic. However, there is a lot to be done before TH resources are effectively incorporated into PHC. Whenever incorporated, TH resources contributed to a more robust response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Subjects
MINAS Gerais (Brazil); BRAZIL; COVID-19 pandemic; PRIMARY care; PRIMARY health care; TELEMEDICINE; MEDICAL quality control
- Publication
Telemedicine & e-Health, 2023, Vol 29, Issue 12, p1878
- ISSN
1530-5627
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1089/tmj.2022.0441