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WHO guidance for digital health application and future research

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Most recently, The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released guidance for digital health after performing a critical and in-depth review on the literature available. It has generated an overview on the benefits, harms, acceptability, feasibility, resource use and equity considerations of digital health interventions. It also provides insights for researchers engaged in designing, developing and validating the digital interventions. The guidelines are also foreseen to greatly impact the future research for digital applications.

It is certain that digital solutions support patients and physicians in achieving their medical goals. They have been also increasingly adopted in health care. However, data is lacking on the impact of digital applications on health care. As number and types of digital solutions increasing, there is an immediate requirement to develop evidence-based insights for the integration of these solutions in medical practices. This paper provides an overview of the guidelines and insights for researchers engaged in the development and validation of digital interventions. It also recommends that the digital tools should be developed and implemented in accordance with the principles of digital development. It extends guidance for building a supportive environment for better adoption of digital health.

Using digital means to complement the traditional education, in training and education of healthcare professionals is definitely recommended. However studies evaluating the validation of learning content are limited that makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Researchers need to be vigilant in using over increasing digital tools. Additionally, sustained efforts are demanded in the development of novel digital tools that could benefit both patient and physicians in health care.

Source

Jandoo T. WHO guidance for digital health: What it means for researchers. Digit Health. 2020;6:2055207619898984. Published 2020 Jan 8. doi:10.1177/2055207619898984

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The role of digital interventions in copd care

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Many studies have demonstrated that availing Digital-technology-enabled care programs helps in reduction of hospitalizations and mortality in COPD patients. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a severe chronic disease that needs continuous care from the time of hospital admission extending to long-term ongoing self management.

The current review highlights the benefits of digital health interventions in COPD care. It also discussed the gaps and the need for further studies in COPD care.

The review is based on several recent and emerging studies along the pathway of COPD management from in-hospital care, post-discharge care, hospital-at-home, self management. The review also considered several studies on the impacts of environmental factors and public health surveillance, where environmental sensors, satellite images, wearable devices and social media were used.  

Several studies have demonstrated that digital applications can potentially reduce hospitalizations and mortality in COPD patients. Some of the studies demonstrated positive effects on reducing hospitalizations by 20% with the use of telemonitoring. Implementation of these applications is often found difficult. This demands the need for personalization of the service that increases its adaptability both by patients and healthcare professionals. Digital transformation enabled population studies also helps in improving public health surveillance.

The use of AI in the analysis of personalised data that is collected via smartphone sensors and wearable devices is also the current topic of research. It provides new opportunities for early prediction and prevention of COPD exacerbation.

However, clinical evidence for the impact of digital transformation in COPD care, especially for in-hospital and post-discharge care is limited. Therefore, further research is needed to achieve positive and beneficial results through digital transformation in COPD care.

Source

Ding H, Fatehi F, Maiorana A, Bashi N, Hu W, Edwards I. Digital health for COPD care: the current state of play. J Thorac Dis. 2019;11(Suppl 17):S2210–S2220. doi:10.21037/jtd.2019.10.17