Lopez de Coca Teresa, Moreno Lucrecia, Alacreu Mónica, Sebastian-Morello Maria
Cátedra DeCo MICOF-CEU UCH, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, 46115 Valencia, Spain.
Department of Pharmacy, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, 46115 Valencia, Spain.
J Pers Med. 2022 Jul 26;12(8):1214. doi: 10.3390/jpm12081214.
Increasing technological advances have generated a digital dependency in the population, resulting in a group of digitally excluded vulnerable people that lack basic digital skills. The aim of this study was to assess the digital divide in patients in relation to the healthcare environment. We explored the extent and effects of the digital health divide by undertaking a systematic review of the academic literature and comparing our findings with the results of a cross-sectional in-person survey answered by 881 people at four community pharmacies. In terms of the sociodemographic profile of the patients, we collected data regarding their gender, age, education level, and location (periphery or urban). The parameters evaluated were use of the internet to search for health information, use of telemedicine, use of different medical/healthcare applications, understanding explanations given by physicians regarding health, and asking pharmacists for help about newly prescribed treatments. Moreover, 168 pharmacists answered an online survey about how often they helped patients to make health center appointments or to download their COVID-19 vaccination certificate. Gender did not influence these results, but age, education level, and population location did. Those with the lowest levels of education required more help to request a health center appointment. People with high education levels and those living in an urban environment more often searched the internet for information about treatments that were new to them. Finally, people living in periphery areas received more help from their pharmacists, 60% of which said they had helped patients to download their COVID-19 vaccination certificate, with 24% of them saying they helped patients with this on a daily basis.
技术进步的不断增加导致了人们对数字技术的依赖，从而产生了一群缺乏基本数字技能的数字弱势群体。本研究的目的是评估患者在医疗环境方面的数字鸿沟。我们通过对学术文献进行系统综述，并将我们的研究结果与来自四个社区药房的881人回答的横断面现场调查结果进行比较，探讨了数字健康鸿沟的程度和影响。关于患者的社会人口学特征，我们收集了他们的性别、年龄、教育水平和地点（周边地区或城市）的数据。评估的参数包括使用互联网搜索健康信息、使用远程医疗、使用不同的医疗/保健应用程序、理解医生给出的健康解释以及就新处方的治疗向药剂师寻求帮助。此外，168名药剂师回答了一项在线调查，内容是他们帮助患者预约健康中心或下载其新冠疫苗接种证书的频率。性别并未影响这些结果，但年龄、教育水平和人口所在地有影响。教育水平最低的人在预约健康中心时需要更多帮助。高学历人群和居住在城市环境中的人更常通过互联网搜索他们不熟悉的治疗方法的信息。最后，居住在周边地区的人从药剂师那里得到了更多帮助，其中60%的药剂师表示他们帮助患者下载了新冠疫苗接种证书，24%的药剂师表示他们每天都帮助患者做这件事。
