Mirasghari Fatemeh, Ayatollahi Haleh, Velayati Farnia, Abasi Arezoo
Department of Health Information Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Health Management and Economics Research Center, Health Management Research Institute, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
J Clin Transl Endocrinol. 2024 Jul 14;37:100361. doi: 10.1016/j.jcte.2024.100361. eCollection 2024 Sep.
Telemedicine has aided patients with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic in receiving better healthcare services. However, despite its numerous benefits, the use of this technology has faced several challenges. This study aimed to identify the challenges of using telemedicine for patients with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This scoping review was conducted in 2024. Relevant articles published between 2020 and 2023 were searched in databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, and the Cochrane Library. Initially, 822 articles were retrieved, and after screening 21 articles were selected.
The challenges of using telemedicine for patients with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic were categorized into the clinical, individual, organizational, and technical challenges. The clinical challenges included the lack of physical examinations and unavailability of patients' medical history. The individual challenges contained difficulties in using smart phones by patients and their low level of literacy. The organizational challenges were related to insufficient laws about obtaining patient consent and limited reimbursement for telemedicine services, and the technical challenges included limited access to the high-speed Internet services and inadequate technical infrastructure for telemedicine services. Most studies highlighted the role of individual and organizational challenges in using this technology.
Considering the numerous challenges experienced in using telemedicine for patients with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems that more attention should be paid to address each of these challenges to improve the actual usage, service quality, and user acceptance of telemedicine technology. This, in turn, can lead to saving costs and improving the health status and quality of life of patients with diabetes.
在新冠疫情期间，远程医疗帮助糖尿病患者获得了更好的医疗服务。然而，尽管有诸多益处，这项技术的应用仍面临一些挑战。本研究旨在确定新冠疫情期间糖尿病患者使用远程医疗所面临的挑战。
这项范围综述于2024年进行。在包括PubMed、Scopus、科学网、ProQuest和考科蓝图书馆在内的数据库中搜索了2020年至2023年发表的相关文章。最初检索到822篇文章，经过筛选后选择了21篇。
新冠疫情期间糖尿病患者使用远程医疗的挑战分为临床、个人、组织和技术挑战。临床挑战包括缺乏体格检查以及无法获取患者病史。个人挑战包括患者使用智能手机困难以及文化水平较低。组织挑战与获取患者同意的法律不足以及远程医疗服务报销有限有关，技术挑战包括高速互联网服务接入受限以及远程医疗服务的技术基础设施不足。大多数研究强调了个人和组织挑战在使用这项技术中的作用。
考虑到新冠疫情期间糖尿病患者使用远程医疗所经历的诸多挑战，似乎应更加关注应对这些挑战中的每一个，以提高远程医疗技术的实际使用率、服务质量和用户接受度。这反过来可以节省成本，并改善糖尿病患者的健康状况和生活质量。
