RAND Europe, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, Sweden.
JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2022 Jul 6;8(7):e34605. doi: 10.2196/34605.
Digital technologies have been central to efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, a range of literature has reported on developments regarding the implementation of new digital technologies for COVID-19-related surveillance, prevention, and control.
In this study, scoping reviews of academic and nonacademic literature were undertaken to obtain an overview of the evidence regarding digital innovations implemented to address key public health functions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to expand on the work of existing reviews by drawing on additional data sources (including nonacademic sources) by considering literature published over a longer time frame and analyzing data in terms of the number of unique digital innovations.
We conducted a scoping review of the academic literature published between January 1, 2020, and September 15, 2020, supplemented by a further scoping review of selected nonacademic literature published between January 1, 2020, and October 13, 2020. Both reviews followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) approach.
A total of 226 academic articles and 406 nonacademic articles were included. The included articles provided evidence of 561 (academic literature) and 497 (nonacademic literature) unique digital innovations. The most common implementation settings for digital innovations were the United States, China, India, and the United Kingdom. Technologies most commonly used by digital innovations were those belonging to the high-level technology group of integrated and ubiquitous fixed and mobile networks. The key public health functions most commonly addressed by digital innovations were communication and collaboration and surveillance and monitoring.
Digital innovations implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been wide ranging in terms of their implementation settings, the digital technologies used, and the public health functions addressed. However, evidence gathered through this study also points to a range of barriers that have affected the successful implementation of digital technologies for public health functions. It is also evident that many digital innovations implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are yet to be formally evaluated or assessed.
数字技术一直是应对 COVID-19 大流行的核心。在此背景下，大量文献报道了与 COVID-19 相关监测、预防和控制相关的新数字技术的开发进展。
本研究通过对学术和非学术文献进行范围综述，全面了解在 COVID-19 大流行背景下实施用于解决关键公共卫生职能的数字创新的证据。本研究旨在通过利用更多的数据源（包括非学术来源）并考虑在更长的时间范围内发表的文献，以及根据独特的数字创新数量来分析数据，从而扩展现有综述的工作。
我们对 2020 年 1 月 1 日至 9 月 15 日期间发表的学术文献进行了范围综述，并辅以对 2020 年 1 月 1 日至 10 月 13 日期间发表的选定非学术文献进行了进一步的范围综述。这两项综述均遵循 PRISMA（系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目）方法。
共纳入 226 篇学术文章和 406 篇非学术文章。纳入的文章提供了 561 项（学术文献）和 497 项（非学术文献）独特数字创新的证据。数字创新的最常见实施设置是美国、中国、印度和英国。数字创新最常使用的技术属于综合和无处不在的固定和移动网络的高级技术组。数字创新最常解决的公共卫生职能是沟通与协作以及监测与监控。
针对 COVID-19 大流行实施的数字创新在实施环境、使用的数字技术以及解决的公共卫生职能方面种类繁多。然而，本研究收集的证据也指出了一系列影响公共卫生职能数字技术成功实施的障碍。显然，许多针对 COVID-19 大流行实施的数字创新尚未经过正式评估或评估。
