Use of E-health in Dutch general practice during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced general practices to search for possibilities to provide healthcare remotely (e.g., e-health). In this study, the impact of the pandemic on the use of e-health in general practices in the Netherlands was investigated. In addition, the intention of practices to continue using e-health more intensively and differences in the use of e-health between practice types were investigated. For this purpose, web surveys were sent to general practices in April and July 2020. Descriptive data analysis was performed and differences in the use of e-health between practice typ... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Keuper, Jelle
Batenburg, Ronald
Verheij, Robert
Van Tuyl, Lilian
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Reihe/Periodikum: Keuper , J , Batenburg , R , Verheij , R & Van Tuyl , L 2021 , ' Use of E-health in Dutch general practice during the COVID-19 pandemic ' , International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , vol. 18 , no. 23 , 12479 . https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312479
Schlagwörter: COVID-19 / General Practice / Humans / Pandemics / SARS-CoV-2 / Surveys and Questionnaires / Telemedicine
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-29446029
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://research.tilburguniversity.edu/en/publications/9b6cb345-f691-4297-8bcb-4f9b7db389c7

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced general practices to search for possibilities to provide healthcare remotely (e.g., e-health). In this study, the impact of the pandemic on the use of e-health in general practices in the Netherlands was investigated. In addition, the intention of practices to continue using e-health more intensively and differences in the use of e-health between practice types were investigated. For this purpose, web surveys were sent to general practices in April and July 2020. Descriptive data analysis was performed and differences in the use of e-health between practice types were tested using one-way ANOVA. Response rates were 34% (n = 1433) in April and 17% (n = 719) in July. The pandemic invoked an increased use of several (new) e-health applications. A minority of practices indicated the intention to maintain this increased use. In addition, small differences in the use of e-health between the different practice types were found. This study showed that although there was an increased uptake of e-health in Dutch general practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, only a minority of practices intends to maintain this increased use in the future. This may point towards a temporary uptake of digital healthcare delivery rather than accelerated implementation of digital processes.