Training Service Users in the Use of Telehealth: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: The use of telehealth has rapidly increased, yet some populations may be disproportionally excluded from accessing and using this modality of care. Training service users in telehealth may increase accessibility for certain groups. The extent and nature of these training activities have not been explored. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this scoping review is to identify and describe activities for training service users in the use of telehealth. METHODS: Five databases (MEDLINE [via PubMed], Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science) were searched in June 2023. Studies that described activities to train service users in the use of synchronous telehealth consultations were eligible for inclusion. Studies that focused on health care professional education were excluded. Papers were limited to those published in the English language. The review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines for scoping reviews and was reported in line with the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. Titles and abstracts were screened by 1 reviewer (EG). Full texts were screened by 2 reviewers (EG and JH or SC). Data extraction was guided by the research question. RESULTS: The search identified 8087 unique publications. In total, 13 studies met the inclusion criteria. Telehealth training was commonly described as once-off preparatory phone calls to service users before a telehealth visit, facilitated primarily by student volunteers, and accompanied by written instructions. The training content included guidance on how to download and install software, troubleshoot technical issues, and adjust device settings. Older adults were the most common target population for the training. All but 1 of the studies were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, training was feasible and well-received by service users, and studies mostly reported increased rates of video visits following training. There was limited and mixed evidence that training improved participants' competency with telehealth. CONCLUSIONS: The review mapped the literature on training activities for service users in telehealth. The common features of telehealth training for service users included once-off preparatory phone calls on the technical elements of telehealth, targeted at older adults. Key issues for consideration include the need for co-designed training and improving the broader digital skills of service users. There is a need for further studies to evaluate the outcomes of telehealth training activities in geographically diverse areas.

Partisan Media, Trust, and Media Literacy: Regression Analysis of Predictors of COVID-19 Knowledge.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic was a devastating public health event that spurred an influx of misinformation. The increase in questionable health content was aided by the speed and scale of digital and social media and certain news agencies' and politicians' active dissemination of misinformation about the virus. The popularity of certain COVID-19 myths created confusion about effective health protocols and impacted trust in the health care and government sectors deployed to manage the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: This study explored how people's information habits, their level of institutional trust, the news media outlets they consume and the technologies in which they access it, and their media literacy skills influenced their COVID-19 knowledge. METHODS: We administered a web-based survey using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to assess US adults' (n=1498) COVID-19 knowledge, media and news habits, media literacy skills, and trust in government and health-related institutions. The data were analyzed using a hierarchical linear regression to examine the association between trust, media literacy, news use, and COVID-19 knowledge. RESULTS: The regression model of demographic variables, political affiliation, trust in institutions, media literacy, and the preference for watching Fox or CNN was statistically significant (R2=0.464; F24,1434=51.653; P<.001; adjusted R2=0.455) in predicting COVID-19 knowledge scores. People who identified as politically conservative, watched Fox News, and reported lower levels of institutional trust and media literacy, scored lower on COVID-19 knowledge questions than those who identified as politically liberal, did not watch Fox News and reported higher levels of institutional trust and media literacy. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the media outlets people turn to, their trust in institutions, and their perceived degree of agency to discern credible information can impact people's knowledge of COVID-19, which has potential implications for managing communication in other public health events.

Impact of COVID-19 on Healthcare Professionals at a Midwestern Quaternary Academic Urban Health Center.

BACKGROUND: Prior pandemic research has focused on physicians and nurses who provide direct patient care. Literature on the experiences of nonnurse/physician clinicians and nonclinical health care professionals is sparse. METHODS: An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted over threetime points to examine the impact of COVID-19 on clinical and nonclinical healthcare professionals (n = 464). FINDINGS: There were no significant differences in distress across survey waves, except for anger (p = .046). No significant differences in distress scores were found between job types. Multiple linear regression results varied. Both the threat and interrupted plans scores were significant predictors of distress. Resources available to healthcare providers (HCPs) were underutilized in all three waves. CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare professionals' distress increases with exposure. Integrating self-care resources for staff may mitigate the impact and maintain a healthy work environment. APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: Occupational health providers should incorporate these findings when developing opportunities to address the needs of health care professionals in the workplace.

Perceptions of Family Physicians About Applying AI in Primary Health Care: Case Study From a Premier Health Care Organization.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), which was not previously anticipated; this is an unforeseen development. The use of AI in health care settings is increasing, as it proves to be a promising tool for transforming health care systems, improving operational and business processes, and efficiently simplifying health care tasks for family physicians and health care administrators. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the perspective of family physicians on AI and its impact on their job roles. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the impact of AI on the management and practices of Qatar's Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) in improving health care tasks and service delivery. Furthermore, it seeks to evaluate the impact of AI on family physicians' job roles, including associated risks and ethical ramifications from their perspective. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey and sent a web-based questionnaire survey link to 724 practicing family physicians at the PHCC. In total, we received 102 eligible responses. RESULTS: Of the 102 respondents, 72 (70.6%) were men and 94 (92.2%) were aged between 35 and 54 years. In addition, 58 (56.9%) of the 102 respondents were consultants. The overall awareness of AI was 80 (78.4%) out of 102, with no difference between gender (P=.06) and age groups (P=.12). AI is perceived to play a positive role in improving health care practices at PHCC (P<.001), managing health care tasks (P<.001), and positively impacting health care service delivery (P<.001). Family physicians also perceived that their clinical, administrative, and opportunistic health care management roles were positively influenced by AI (P<.001). Furthermore, perceptions of family physicians indicate that AI improves operational and human resource management (P<.001), does not undermine patient-physician relationships (P<.001), and is not considered superior to human physicians in the clinical judgment process (P<.001). However, its inclusion is believed to decrease patient satisfaction (P<.001). AI decision-making and accountability were recognized as ethical risks, along with data protection and confidentiality. The optimism regarding using AI for future medical decisions was low among family physicians. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated a positive perception among family physicians regarding AI integration into primary care settings. AI demonstrates significant potential for enhancing health care task management and overall service delivery at the PHCC. It augments family physicians' roles without replacing them and proves beneficial for operational efficiency, human resource management, and public health during pandemics. While the implementation of AI is anticipated to bring benefits, the careful consideration of ethical, privacy, confidentiality, and patient-centric concerns is essential. These insights provide valuable guidance for the strategic integration of AI into health care systems, with a focus on maintaining high-quality patient care and addressing the multifaceted challenges that arise during this transformative process.

Cost, Usability, Credibility, Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Explainability Framework for Safe and Effective Large Language Models in Medical Education: Narrative Review and Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: The world has witnessed increased adoption of large language models (LLMs) in the last year. Although the products developed using LLMs have the potential to solve accessibility and efficiency problems in health care, there is a lack of available guidelines for developing LLMs for health care, especially for medical education. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify and prioritize the enablers for developing successful LLMs for medical education. We further evaluated the relationships among these identified enablers. METHODS: A narrative review of the extant literature was first performed to identify the key enablers for LLM development. We additionally gathered the opinions of LLM users to determine the relative importance of these enablers using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP), which is a multicriteria decision-making method. Further, total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) was used to analyze the perspectives of product developers and ascertain the relationships and hierarchy among these enablers. Finally, the cross-impact matrix-based multiplication applied to a classification (MICMAC) approach was used to determine the relative driving and dependence powers of these enablers. A nonprobabilistic purposive sampling approach was used for recruitment of focus groups. RESULTS: The AHP demonstrated that the most important enabler for LLMs was credibility, with a priority weight of 0.37, followed by accountability (0.27642) and fairness (0.10572). In contrast, usability, with a priority weight of 0.04, showed negligible importance. The results of TISM concurred with the findings of the AHP. The only striking difference between expert perspectives and user preference evaluation was that the product developers indicated that cost has the least importance as a potential enabler. The MICMAC analysis suggested that cost has a strong influence on other enablers. The inputs of the focus group were found to be reliable, with a consistency ratio less than 0.1 (0.084). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to identify, prioritize, and analyze the relationships of enablers of effective LLMs for medical education. Based on the results of this study, we developed a comprehendible prescriptive framework, named CUC-FATE (Cost, Usability, Credibility, Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Explainability), for evaluating the enablers of LLMs in medical education. The study findings are useful for health care professionals, health technology experts, medical technology regulators, and policy makers.

Health Care Professionals' and Parents' Perspectives on the Use of AI for Pain Monitoring in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Multisite Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: The use of artificial intelligence (AI) for pain assessment has the potential to address historical challenges in infant pain assessment. There is a dearth of information on the perceived benefits and barriers to the implementation of AI for neonatal pain monitoring in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) from the perspective of health care professionals (HCPs) and parents. This qualitative analysis provides novel data obtained from 2 large tertiary care hospitals in Canada and the United Kingdom. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to explore the perspectives of HCPs and parents regarding the use of AI for pain assessment in the NICU. METHODS: In total, 20 HCPs and 20 parents of preterm infants were recruited and consented to participate from February 2020 to October 2022 in interviews asking about AI use for pain assessment in the NICU, potential benefits of the technology, and potential barriers to use. RESULTS: The 40 participants included 20 HCPs (17 women and 3 men) with an average of 19.4 (SD 10.69) years of experience in the NICU and 20 parents (mean age 34.4, SD 5.42 years) of preterm infants who were on average 43 (SD 30.34) days old. Six themes from the perspective of HCPs were identified: regular use of technology in the NICU, concerns with regard to AI integration, the potential to improve patient care, requirements for implementation, AI as a tool for pain assessment, and ethical considerations. Seven parent themes included the potential for improved care, increased parental distress, support for parents regarding AI, the impact on parent engagement, the importance of human care, requirements for integration, and the desire for choice in its use. A consistent theme was the importance of AI as a tool to inform clinical decision-making and not replace it. CONCLUSIONS: HCPs and parents expressed generally positive sentiments about the potential use of AI for pain assessment in the NICU, with HCPs highlighting important ethical considerations. This study identifies critical methodological and ethical perspectives from key stakeholders that should be noted by any team considering the creation and implementation of AI for pain monitoring in the NICU.

A Prediction Model for Identifying Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Uptake Among Children in Wuxi, China: Prospective Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Predicting vaccination behaviors accurately could provide insights for health care professionals to develop targeted interventions. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop predictive models for influenza vaccination behavior among children in China. METHODS: We obtained data from a prospective observational study in Wuxi, eastern China. The predicted outcome was individual-level vaccine uptake and covariates included sociodemographics of the child and parent, parental vaccine hesitancy, perceptions of convenience to the clinic, satisfaction with clinic services, and willingness to vaccinate. Bayesian networks, logistic regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression, support vector machine (SVM), naive Bayes (NB), random forest (RF), and decision tree classifiers were used to construct prediction models. Various performance metrics, including area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), were used to evaluate the predictive performance of the different models. Receiver operating characteristic curves and calibration plots were used to assess model performance. RESULTS: A total of 2383 participants were included in the study; 83.2% of these children (n=1982) were <5 years old and 6.6% (n=158) had previously received an influenza vaccine. More than half (1356/2383, 56.9%) the parents indicated a willingness to vaccinate their child against influenza. Among the 2383 children, 26.3% (n=627) received influenza vaccination during the 2020-2021 season. Within the training set, the RF model showed the best performance across all metrics. In the validation set, the logistic regression model and NB model had the highest AUC values; the SVM model had the highest precision; the NB model had the highest recall; and the logistic regression model had the highest accuracy, F1 score, and Cohen κ value. The LASSO and logistic regression models were well-calibrated. CONCLUSIONS: The developed prediction model can be used to quantify the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination for children in China. The stepwise logistic regression model may be better suited for prediction purposes.

2024 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures.

This article describes the public health impact of Alzheimer's disease (AD), including prevalence and incidence, mortality and morbidity, use and costs of care and the ramifications of AD for family caregivers, the dementia workforce and society. The Special Report discusses the larger health care system for older adults with cognitive issues, focusing on the role of caregivers and non-physician health care professionals. An estimated 6.9 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's dementia today. This number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060, barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent or cure AD. Official AD death certificates recorded 119,399 deaths from AD in 2021. In 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 entered the ranks of the top ten causes of death, Alzheimer's was the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. Official counts for more recent years are still being compiled. Alzheimer's remains the fifth-leading cause of death among Americans age 65 and older. Between 2000 and 2021, deaths from stroke, heart disease and HIV decreased, whereas reported deaths from AD increased more than 140%. More than 11 million family members and other unpaid caregivers provided an estimated 18.4 billion hours of care to people with Alzheimer's or other dementias in 2023. These figures reflect a decline in the number of caregivers compared with a decade earlier, as well as an increase in the amount of care provided by each remaining caregiver. Unpaid dementia caregiving was valued at $346.6 billion in 2023. Its costs, however, extend to unpaid caregivers' increased risk for emotional distress and negative mental and physical health outcomes. Members of the paid health care and broader community-based workforce are involved in diagnosing, treating and caring for people with dementia. However, the United States faces growing shortages across different segments of the dementia care workforce due to a combination of factors, including the absolute increase in the number of people living with dementia. Therefore, targeted programs and care delivery models will be needed to attract, better train and effectively deploy health care and community-based workers to provide dementia care. Average per-person Medicare payments for services to beneficiaries age 65 and older with AD or other dementias are almost three times as great as payments for beneficiaries without these conditions, and Medicaid payments are more than 22 times as great. Total payments in 2024 for health care, long-term care and hospice services for people age 65 and older with dementia are estimated to be $360 billion. The Special Report investigates how caregivers of older adults with cognitive issues interact with the health care system and examines the role non-physician health care professionals play in facilitating clinical care and access to community-based services and supports. It includes surveys of caregivers and health care workers, focusing on their experiences, challenges, awareness and perceptions of dementia care navigation.

The Cooperation Between Nurses and a New Digital Colleague "AI-Driven Lifestyle Monitoring" in Long-Term Care for Older Adults: Viewpoint.

Technology has a major impact on the way nurses work. Data-driven technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), have particularly strong potential to support nurses in their work. However, their use also introduces ambiguities. An example of such a technology is AI-driven lifestyle monitoring in long-term care for older adults, based on data collected from ambient sensors in an older adult's home. Designing and implementing this technology in such an intimate setting requires collaboration with nurses experienced in long-term and older adult care. This viewpoint paper emphasizes the need to incorporate nurses and the nursing perspective into every stage of designing, using, and implementing AI-driven lifestyle monitoring in long-term care settings. It is argued that the technology will not replace nurses, but rather act as a new digital colleague, complementing the humane qualities of nurses and seamlessly integrating into nursing workflows. Several advantages of such a collaboration between nurses and technology are highlighted, as are potential risks such as decreased patient empowerment, depersonalization, lack of transparency, and loss of human contact. Finally, practical suggestions are offered to move forward with integrating the digital colleague.

Combating Barriers to the Development of a Patient-Oriented Frailty Website.

Unlabelled: This viewpoint article, which represents the opinions of the authors, discusses the barriers to developing a patient-oriented frailty website and potential solutions. A patient-oriented frailty website is a health resource where community-dwelling older adults can navigate to and answer a series of health-related questions to receive a frailty score and health summary. This information could then be shared with health care professionals to help with the understanding of health status prior to acute illness, as well as to screen and identify older adult individuals for frailty. Our viewpoints were drawn from 2 discussion sessions that included caregivers and care providers, as well as community-dwelling older adults. We found that barriers to a patient-oriented frailty website include, but are not limited to, its inherent restrictiveness to frail persons, concerns over data privacy, time commitment worries, and the need for health and lifestyle resources in addition to an assessment summary. For each barrier, we discuss potential solutions and caveats to those solutions, including assistance from caregivers, hosting the website on a trusted source, reducing the number of health questions that need to be answered, and providing resources tailored to each users' responses, respectively. In addition to screening and identifying frail older adults, a patient-oriented frailty website will help promote healthy aging in nonfrail adults, encourage aging in place, support real-time monitoring, and enable personalized and preventative care.

Qualitative Exploration of Health Professionals' Perceptions of Addressing Malnutrition Within the First 1,000 Days.

OBJECTIVE: Explore health professionals' perceptions toward how to address malnutrition within the first 1,000 days of life in underresourced communities. DESIGN: A qualitative explorative-descriptive study using 8 face-to-face focus group discussions. SETTING: Health facilities serving underresourced communities within Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-six health professionals (n = 13 doctors, n = 28 nurses, n = 6 dietitians, and n = 9 social workers) aged between 20 and 60 years, with 1-16 years (5 years average) of working experience. The majority (n = 53; 94.6%) were women. PHENOMENON OF INTEREST: Health professionals' perceptions of effective methods or strategies to address malnutrition are referred to as undernutrition. ANALYSIS: Content analysis. RESULTS: Health professionals perceived socioeconomic conditions; caregiver lack of nutrition knowledge; and behavioral, cultural, and generational infant feeding practices as contributing factors to malnutrition. Participants recommended efforts to strengthen the availability, accessibility, and utilization of contraception, especially for teenagers, increase support to caretakers of children from families, health facilities, and communities, and a multisector and multidisciplinary approach to improve social determinants of health in underresourced communities. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: To address malnutrition within the first 1,000 days of life, data supports that health professionals in underresourced communities require a multisector, multidisciplinary approach. This approach entails educational interventions, peer mentoring and community empowerment through support to and involvement of caregivers of children.

Practicing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences of Canadian Hospital-Based Occupational Therapists.

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted hospital operations worldwide, including services delivered by occupational therapists (OTs). Purpose. This study aimed to understand the experiences of OTs at one Canadian, tertiary care hospital during the 2021-2022 period of the pandemic. Method. We used a qualitative descriptive approach to describe the experiences of OTs during the pandemic. Findings. While there were similarities in the 10 participating OTs' experiences, salient differences were largely linked to the method of service delivery. Inpatient OTs benefitted from the support of colleagues and developed coping strategies in response to high levels of workplace stress and anxiety and a perceived lack of support from many levels of society. Clinically, they spent more time on discharge planning with fewer resources. OTs providing virtual/hybrid services experienced unique challenges related to adapting their practice to a virtual platform, including challenges assessing patients. They described benefits associated with virtual/hybrid service delivery and brought up concerns around equity of service provision. Conclusion. OTs in this hospital setting faced challenges in providing patient care and supporting their own wellness during the pandemic. Future research could explore the role of leadership in supporting occupational therapy practice during public health emergencies.

Measuring the Digital Competence of Health Professionals: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Digital competence is listed as one of the key competences for lifelong learning and is increasing in importance not only in private life but also in professional life. There is consensus within the health care sector that digital competence (or digital literacy) is needed in various professional fields. However, it is still unclear what exactly the digital competence of health professionals should include and how it can be measured. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the common definitions of digital literacy in scientific literature in the field of health care and the existing measurement instruments. METHODS: Peer-reviewed scientific papers from the last 10 years (2013-2023) in English or German that deal with the digital competence of health care workers in both outpatient and inpatient care were included. The databases ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCOhost, MEDLINE, OpenAIRE, ERIC, OAIster, Cochrane Library, CAMbase, APA PsycNet, and Psyndex were searched for literature. The review follows the JBI methodology for scoping reviews, and the description of the results is based on the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist. RESULTS: The initial search identified 1682 papers, of which 46 (2.73%) were included in the synthesis. The review results show that there is a strong focus on technical skills and knowledge with regard to both the definitions of digital competence and the measurement tools. A wide range of competences were identified within the analyzed works and integrated into a validated competence model in the areas of technical, methodological, social, and personal competences. The measurement instruments mainly used self-assessment of skills and knowledge as an indicator of competence and differed greatly in their statistical quality. CONCLUSIONS: The identified multitude of subcompetences illustrates the complexity of digital competence in health care, and existing measuring instruments are not yet able to reflect this complexity.

Views and experiences of healthcare professionals and patients on the implementation of a 23-hour accelerated enhanced recovery programme: a mixed-method study.

BACKGROUND: An accumulating body of research suggests that an accelerating enhanced recovery after colon surgery protocol is beneficial for patients, however, to obtain these effects, adherence to all elements of the protocol is important. The implementation of complex interventions, such as the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocol (ERAS), and their strict adherence have proven to be difficult. The same challenges can be expected in the implementation of the accelerated Enhanced Recovery Pathways (ERPs). This study aimed to understand the perspectives of both healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients on the locally studied acCelerated enHanced recovery After SurgEry (CHASE) protocol. METHODS: For this mixed-method study, HCPs who provided CHASE care and patients who received CHASE care were recruited using purposive sampling. Ethical approval was obtained by the Medical Ethical Committee of the Zuyderland Medical Centre (NL71804.096.19, METCZ20190130, October 2022). Semi-structured, in-depth, one-on-one interviews were conducted with HCPs (n = 13) and patients (n = 11). The interviews consisted of a qualitative and quantitative part, the protocol evaluation and the Measurement Instrument or Determinant of Innovations-structured questionnaire. We explored the perspectives, barriers, and facilitators of the CHASE protocol implementation. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed independently by two researchers using direct content analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that overall, HCPs support the implementation of the CHASE protocol. The enablers were easy access to the protocol, the relevance of the intervention, and thorough patient education. Some of the reported barriers included the difficulty of recognizing CHASE patients, the need for regular feedback, and the updates on the implementation progress. Most patients were enthusiastic about early discharge after surgery and expressed satisfaction with the care they received. On the other hand, the patients sometimes received different information from different HCPs, considered the information to be too extensive and few experienced some discomfort with CHASE care. CONCLUSION: Bringing CHASE care into practice was challenging and required adaptation from HCPs. The experiences of HCPs showed that the protocol can be improved further, and the mostly positive experiences of patients are a motivation for this improvement. These results yielded practical implications to improve the implementation of accelerated ERPs.

Views of Service Users, Their Family or Carers, and Health Care Professionals on Telerehabilitation for People With Neurological Conditions in Ghana: Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: Up to 50% of people in low- and middle-income countries do not receive the rehabilitation they require. Telerehabilitation has the potential to improve access to neurorehabilitation services especially in low- and middle-income countries. Although there are reports of the barriers and facilitators to telerehabilitation in such settings, almost all are anecdotal. Furthermore, family or carers have a significant influence on the adoption and success of telerehabilitation, but their views have not been reported. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the views of service users, their family or carers, and health care professionals (HCPs) on telerehabilitation for people with neurological conditions in Ghana. METHODS: Two focus groups were held at Komfo Anokye Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana: one in person for service users (n=11) and their family or carers (n=9), conducted in the Ghanaian language of Twi, and one hybrid for HCPs (n=18) conducted in English. The mean (SD) age of the service users was 59.8 (8.6) years; 5 users had a stroke and 6 had Parkinson disease. The HCP group consisted of 7 speech and language therapists, 3 physiotherapists, 3 occupational therapists, 3 medical staff, 1 nurse, and 1 industry representative. Focus groups were semi-structured and explored previous experiences of telerehabilitation, perceived benefits and challenges, and solutions to overcome these challenges. Focus groups were audio transcribed, and the service user transcript was translated into English. The resulting transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Overall, participants were positive about the role of telerehabilitation but recommended hybrid delivery, with in-person rehabilitation in the early stages and telerehabilitation in the later stages. In relation to telerehabilitation in Ghana, there were 3 main themes: benefits, challenges or barriers, and implementation. Benefits included the convenience and lower cost for service users, the higher dose of therapy possible, and increased access for people in remote areas. However, challenges included lack of a stable internet connection, cost of phones and data packages, and low levels of literacy. Implementation issues included cultural relevance, information governance, and the platform used to deliver telerehabilitation, with most participants being familiar with WhatsApp. CONCLUSIONS: Telerehabilitation has the potential to be a useful method of delivering rehabilitation to people with neurological conditions in Ghana, especially in a hybrid rehabilitation model with telerehabilitation augmenting in-person sessions. However, many people were unaware of telerehabilitation, and challenges such as a reliable internet connection, cultural relevance, and costs need to be addressed. Clinical trials of low-cost telerehabilitation interventions contextualized to the specific user group are required.

Prevalence and risk factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among physical therapists in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

BACKGROUND: Understanding risk factors linked to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) is crucial for enhancing health promotion and ensuring workplace safety among healthcare professionals particularly physical therapists (PTs). However, in Vietnam, there has been lack of an investigation. Therefore, this study was to determine whether potential risk factors contributed to the occurrence of WMSDs among PTs in Ho Chi Minh City. METHOD: An online self-reported questionnaire for WMSDs comprising the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), Job-risk and Environmental factors, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) and the coping strategies, were distributed to PTs. They were enrolled if they had: age ≥ 22 years, graduated from PT program, a full-time job with ≥1 year of experience. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were determined using Logistic regression. RESULTS: Our study found that within the past 12 months, the prevalence of WMSDs was 76.4% (n = 204/267): neck 58.4% and lower back 57.3%. PTs aged 22-29 years, < 4 years of education, and < 7 years of working experience were more likely to have WMSDs 2-3 times than those who did not. After adjusting for age, education, and work experience, PTs who engaged in manual techniques/exercises, lifting/transferring patients, and maintaining awkward postures were 5-7 times more likely to have WMSDs in the neck and lower back than those who did not. Environmental and psychological factors, such as number of treatment tables, size of electrotherapy rooms, using PTs modalities, and stress were significantly associated with WMSDs. More than 50% of PTs used modified positions and new treatment/techniques that did not aggravate their symptoms, as coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates potential risk factors associated with WMSDs, affecting the neck and lower back among PTs in Vietnam. These risk factors should be addressed to improve overall PTs health, retain skilled workers, and encourage them to continue working.

Ten Years of Experience With a Telemedicine Platform Dedicated to Health Care Personnel: Implementation Report.

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine, a term that encompasses several applications and tasks, generally involves the remote management and treatment of patients by physicians. It is known as transversal telemedicine when practiced among health care professionals (HCPs). OBJECTIVE: We describe the experience of implementing our telemedicine Eumeda platform for HCPs over the last 10 years. METHODS: A web-based informatics platform was developed that had continuously updated hypertext created using advanced technology and the following features: security, data insertion, dedicated software for image analysis, and the ability to export data for statistical surveys. Customizable files called "modules" were designed and built for different fields of medicine, mainly in the ophthalmology subspecialty. Each module was used by HCPs with different authorization profiles. IMPLEMENTATION (RESULTS): Twelve representative modules for different projects are presented in this manuscript. These modules evolved over time, with varying degrees of interconnectivity, including the participation of a number of centers in 19 cities across Italy. The number of HCP operators involved in each single module ranged from 6 to 114 (average 21.8, SD 28.5). Data related to 2574 participants were inserted across all the modules. The average percentage of completed text/image fields in the 12 modules was 65.7%. All modules were evaluated in terms of access, acceptability, and medical efficacy. In their final evaluation, the participants judged the modules to be useful and efficient for clinical use. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the usefulness of the telemedicine platform for HCPs in terms of improved knowledge in medicine, patient care, scientific research, teaching, and the choice of therapies. It would be useful to start similar projects across various health care fields, considering that in the near future medicine as we know it will completely change.

Perineal lacerations and social media: can patients find reliable information on Instagram and TikTok?

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Social media content related to patient experiences and education continues to grow. Information on how obstetric perineal lacerations are represented on social media is limited. Our goal is to characterize available social media content on obstetric perineal lacerations. METHODS: This is an IRB-exempt study using publicly available data on commonly searched topics about perineal lacerations to create a list of queries for Instagram and TikTok. The ten queries and "keyword" searches with the highest number of posts were identified from this list. The 50 most recent posts were reviewed for relevance, quality of content, and authorship. Topic-relevant posts were analyzed. RESULTS: The search yielded 427 posts on Instagram and 500 on TikTok. Instagram yielded more topic-relevant posts than TikTok (94.1% vs 44.8%). Almost 50% of posts were categorized as educational. Instagram identified more patient experience-related posts (29.6%) whereas TikTok provided more humorous content (26.3%). Patients produced 27.6% of content on Instagram and 43.3% on TikTok. Physical therapists produced 18.9% of posts on Instagram and 21.9% on TikTok. They constituted the largest group of health professionals to post overall. Physician-created educational content accounted for 10.3% of posts on Instagram and 6.0% on TikTok. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with TikTok, Instagram may be a more informative social media platform for educational or patient experience-related content. Given the paucity of physician-created content and given that only half of all posts are educational, providers should encourage social media engagement for community and networking purposes, while encouraging caution with regard to cosmetic products and advertisements.

Contributions of the physical therapist to primary health care based on multiprofessional residency / Contribuições da fisioterapia para a Atenção Primária à Saúde a partir da residência multiprofissional

Abstract Introduction Multiprofessional residency in health (MHS) is a professional training program focussed on Brazil's Unified Health System that aims to reorient techno-assistance logics and significantly contributes to the insertion and consolidation of physical therapy into primary health care (PHC). Objective To understand the perceptions of health professionals and managers about the contributions of the MRH to the insertion of physical therapy into PHC. Methods This qualitative study was based on hermeneutics and was conducted in the municipality of Aracati, Ceará, Brazil, with 15 professionals making up a convenience sample. Eligible were PHC professionals with higher education working in urban areas. The data were collected from March to June 2023 through semistructured interviews with the researchers. The data analysis was based on reading the material, organizing it into themes, and interpreting these in depth. Results The first contact with physical therapy occurs in scenarios that range from individual and shared consultations to health programs at school, whose actions are optimized by PHC from the MHS. There are numerous physical therapy care strategies, especially actions focussed on biopsychosocial aspects. The involvement of physical therapists in health promotion is revealed by the inclusion of professionals in health promotion groups. Health education from a multiprofessional perspective enhances care through promotion and prevention. Conclusion The MHS strengthens the need for physical therapy in PHC and enhances primary care.

Resumo Introdução A partir da Residência Multiprofissional em Saúde (RMS) ocorre uma capacitação profissional mais direcionada para o Sistema Único de Saúde, visando a reorientação das lógicas tecnoassistenciais e contribuindo de forma significativa para a inserção e consolidação da fisioterapia na Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS). Objetivo Compreender a percepção dos profissionais e gestores de saúde sobre as contribuições da RMS para a inserção da fisioterapia na APS. Métodos Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo fundamentado na hermenêutica, desenvolvido no município de Aracati, Ceará, Brasil, com 15 profissionais por conveniência. A elegibilidade dos participantes centrou-se em profissionais de nível superior da APS em área urbana. A coleta de dados aconteceu de março a junho de 2023, através de uma entrevista semiestruturada elaborada pelos pesquisadores. A análise de dados ocorreu com base na leitura do material, organização em temáticas e interpretação por profundidade. Resultados O primeiro contato com a fisioterapia acontece em cenários que envolvem desde a consulta individual e compartilhada a programas de saúde na escola, cujas ações são otimizadas pela APS a partir da residência. As estratégias de cuidado da fisioterapia são inúmeras, principalmente ações centradas nos aspectos biopsicossociais. A inserção da fisioterapia na promoção da saúde é revelada pela inclusão do profissional em grupos de promoção da saúde. A educação em saúde na perspectiva multiprofissional é potencializadora do cuidado pelas ações de promoção e prevenção. Conclusão A residência multiprofissional fortalece a inserção da fisioterapia na APS e potencializa os cuidados primários.

Knowledge, confidence, and clinical experience of physiotherapists and multiprofessional team on pulmonary rehabilitation / Conocimiento, confianza y experiencia clínica de los fisioterapeutas y el equipo multiprofesional sobre la rehabilitación pulmonar / Conhecimento, confiança e experiência clínica dos fisioterapeutas e equipe multiprofissional sobre reabilitação pulmonar

ABSTRACT The knowledge deficit of health professionals has been a barrier to expanding and implementing of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) services, despite the reported benefits of PR for individuals with Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD). This study aims to assess the preparedness of health care professionals from two Brazilian cities to perform PR in the public health system. This is survey is part of a larger project to implement PR in the Brazilian public health system. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge (19 questions), training (7 questions), confidence (10 questions), and clinical experience (8 questions) of physical therapists (PT) and the multiprofessional team (MT) before a PR workshop. In total, 44 PT and 231 MT answered the questionnaire. The mean total knowledge score was 10±3 for PT and 6±3 for MT. Few physical therapist reported having "a lot" of experience (25%) and confidence (22.7%) to perform PR, as well as sufficient training to conduct the six-minute walk test (27.3%).Even fewer MT reported having "a lot" of experience (10%) and sufficient training (4.8%) to perform PR, as well as to plan the educational program for patients (10%) and the confidence to refer patients to PR (6.5%). This is the first study to evaluate the preparedness of professionals from the Brazilian public health network to provide PR. Notably, both PT and MT have low preparation to perform PR in the studied cities, reinforcing the need for continuing education.

RESUMEN El déficit de conocimientos entre los profesionales de la salud ha sido una barrera para la expansión e implementación de los servicios de rehabilitación pulmonar (RP) a pesar de sus beneficios comprobados para las personas con enfermedad respiratoria crónica (ERC). Este estudio de encuesta forma parte de un proyecto más amplio para implantar la RP en el sistema público sanitario brasileño mediante la evaluación de la preparación de los profesionales sanitarios de dos municipios brasileños para proporcionarla. Se utilizó un cuestionario autoadministrado para evaluar los conocimientos (19 preguntas), la formación (7 preguntas), la confianza (10 preguntas) y la experiencia clínica (8 preguntas) de los fisioterapeutas (FT) y del equipo multiprofesional (EM), aplicado previamente en un taller sobre RP. La puntuación media de los conocimientos fue de 10±3 para FT y de 6±3 para EM. Menos de un tercio de los FT afirmaron que tenían "mucha" experiencia (25%) y confianza (22,7%) para realizar la RP, así como formación suficiente para realizar la prueba de la marcha de seis minutos (27,3%). Pocos profesionales del EM declararon que tenían "mucha" experiencia (10%) y formación suficiente (4,8%) para realizar la RP, así como para planificar el programa educativo (10%) y tenían confianza para derivar a pacientes para la RP (6,5%). Este es el primer estudio que evalúa la preparación de los profesionales de la red pública de salud en Brasil para proporcionar la RP, y se observa que, en los municipios donde se realizó, tanto los FT como el EM están poco preparados para llevarla a cabo, lo que refuerza la necesidad de una formación continuada.

RESUMO O déficit de conhecimento dos profissionais de saúde tem sido uma barreira para a expansão e implementação dos serviços de reabilitação pulmonar (RP), apesar dos seus benefícios comprovados para indivíduos com doença respiratória crônica (DRC). Objetivo: avaliar o preparo dos profissionais de saúde de dois municípios brasileiros para fornecer a RP no sistema público de saúde. Esse estudo, do tipo survey, foi parte de um projeto maior para implementação da RP no sistema público de saúde brasileiro. Foi utilizado um questionário autoaplicável para avaliar o conhecimento (19 questões), o treinamento (7 questões), a confiança (10 questões) e a experiência clínica (8 questões) dos fisioterapeutas (FT) e da equipe multiprofissional (EM), aplicado antes de um workshop sobre RP. No total, 44 FT e 231 EM responderam o questionário. A pontuação média de conhecimento foi de 10±3 para FT e 6±3 para EM. Poucos FT referiam ter "muita" experiência (25%) e confiança (22,7%) para realizar RP, bem como treinamento suficiente para realizar o teste de caminhada de seis minutos (27,3%). Ainda menos profissionais da EM relataram ter "muita" experiência (10%) e treinamento suficiente (4,8%) para realizar RP, assim como para planejar o programa educacional dos pacientes (10%) e ter confiança para encaminhar pacientes para a RP (6,5%). Este é o primeiro estudo a avaliar o preparo dos profissionais da rede pública de saúde no Brasil para fornecer RP. Notavelmente, tanto FT quanto EM têm baixo preparo para realizar RP nos municípios estudados, reforçando a necessidade de realização de educação continuada.