IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i14p7410-d592354.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Can We Develop an Efficient eHealth Service for Provision of Care for Elderly People with Balance Disorders and Risk of Falling? A Mixed Methods Study

Author

Listed:
  • Andréa Gomes Martins Gaspar

    (Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (UNL), 1349-008 Lisbon, Portugal
    Hospital Beatriz Ângelo, 2674-514 Lisbon, Portugal
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Pedro Escada

    (Hospital Egas Moniz, 1349-019 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Luís Velez Lapão

    (Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (UNL), 1349-008 Lisbon, Portugal
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

This study aimed to identify relevant topics for the development of an efficient eHealth service for elderly people with balance disorders and risk of falling, based on input from physicians providing healthcare to this patient group. In the quantitative part of the study, an open multiple-choice questionnaire was made available on the website of the Portuguese General Medical Council to assess the satisfaction with electronic medical records regarding clinical data available, the time needed to retrieve data and the usefulness of the data. Of the 118 participants, 55% were dissatisfied/very dissatisfied with data availability and 61% with the time spent to access and update data related to the focused patient group. Despite this negative experience, 76% considered future e-Health solutions as pertinent/very pertinent. Subsequently, these findings were further explored with eight semi-structured interviews. The physicians confirmed the reported dissatisfactions and pointed out the lack of comprehensive data and system interoperability as serious problems, causing inefficient health services with an overlap of emergency visits and uncoordinated diagnostics and treatment. In addition, they discussed the importance of camera and audio monitoring to add significant value. Our results indicate considerable potential for e-Health solutions, but substantial improvements are crucial to achieving such future solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Andréa Gomes Martins Gaspar & Pedro Escada & Luís Velez Lapão, 2021. "How Can We Develop an Efficient eHealth Service for Provision of Care for Elderly People with Balance Disorders and Risk of Falling? A Mixed Methods Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-18, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7410-:d:592354
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7410/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7410/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Van-Anh Thi Ha & Tam Ngoc Nguyen & Thanh Xuan Nguyen & Huong Thi Thu Nguyen & Thu Thi Hoai Nguyen & Anh Trung Nguyen & Thang Pham & Huyen Thi Thanh Vu, 2021. "Prevalence and Factors Associated with Falls among Older Outpatients," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-11, April.
    2. Shu-Lin Uei & Yu-Ming Kuo & Chung-Hung Tsai & Yu-Lun Kuo, 2017. "An Exploration of Intent to Use Telehealth at Home for Patients with Chronic Diseases," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Rolf Wynn & Elia Gabarron & Jan-Are K. Johnsen & Vicente Traver, 2020. "Special Issue on E-Health Services," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-6, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andréa Gomes Martins Gaspar & Luís Velez Lapão, 2022. "A Digital Health Service for Elderly People with Balance Disorders and Risk of Falling: A Design Science Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-17, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andréa Gomes Martins Gaspar & Luís Velez Lapão, 2022. "A Digital Health Service for Elderly People with Balance Disorders and Risk of Falling: A Design Science Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Kun Wang & Meijun Chen & Xiaoyue Zhang & Lanchao Zhang & Chun Chang & Yu Tian & Xiaofeng Wang & Zhijing Li & Ying Ji, 2022. "The Incidence of Falls and Related Factors among Chinese Elderly Community Residents in Six Provinces," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Filipe Rodrigues & António M. Monteiro & Pedro Forte & Pedro Morouço, 2023. "Effects of Muscle Strength, Agility, and Fear of Falling on Risk of Falling in Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-8, March.
    4. Andjar Prasetyo & Nana Noviana & Weni Rosdiana & M. Arief Anwar & Hartiningsih & Hendrixon & Bekti Putri Harwijayanti & Mochammad Fahlevi, 2023. "Stunting Convergence Management Framework through System Integration Based on Regional Service Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Lina Stangvaltaite-Mouhat & Indre Stankeviciene & Sigrid Sofia Sanchez Martinussen & Vytautas Sabataitis & Camilla Sandjord & Ingrid Toresen & Marianne Stoltenberg Tryggestad & Alina Puriene & Jan-Are, 2023. "Web-Based Interventions Reduced Dental Anxiety among Adults in Lithuania and Norway: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-14, February.
    6. Chen Li & Jiaji Wu & Yi Huang, 2023. "Spatial–Temporal Patterns and Coupling Characteristics of Rural Elderly Care Institutions in China: Sustainable Human Settlements Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-27, February.
    7. Simona Hvalič-Touzery & Mojca Šetinc & Vesna Dolničar, 2022. "Benefits of a Wearable Activity Tracker with Safety Features for Older Adults: An Intervention Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-26, November.
    8. Niruwan Turnbull & Pichayasuda Cherdsakul & Sutin Chanaboon & David Hughes & Kukiat Tudpor, 2022. "Tooth Loss, Cognitive Impairment and Fall Risk: A Cross-Sectional Study of Older Adults in Rural Thailand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-9, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7410-:d:592354. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.