ICT Health 2018 also shows that the availability of telehealth services was greater in public establishments compared to private ones
In 2018, 69% of Basic Health Units (UBS) had an electronic system for recording patient information. In addition, 65% maintained patient records in fully or partially electronic format, while 35% did so only in paper form. Data are from the sixth edition of the survey. ICT Health, launched in October 2019 by the Internet Management Committee in Brazil (CGI.br), through the Regional Center for Studies for the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) of the Information and Coordination Center of Ponto BR (NIC. br). The dissemination of indicators and the Publication took place in São Paulo during the panel “The importance of measurements and indicators for the improvement of public policies in the health sector” promoted within the workshop “Scientific Computing, Data Visualization & Analytics in Medicine in the Age of Big Data”.
“UBS are the gateway to the health system. However, the adoption of new technologies and information systems by UBS still faces barriers related to infrastructure, such as the lack of computers and Internet access”, highlights Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br. In 2018, 10% of UBS did not have computers and 20% did not have access to the Internet. In a universe of 40,500 UBS, this proportion corresponds to around 3,900 and 4,200, respectively.
Considering all public health establishments (including UBS) with Internet access, 66% of them had some type of electronic system for recording patient information in 2018 — a number that reached 80% in private establishments. Regarding the way of storing the medical records, 10% of the public places kept it only in electronic format; 38% exclusively on paper; and 51% in both forms. In private establishments, the numbers were 25%, 17% and 56%, respectively.
The functionalities most present in health facilities were those of an administrative nature, when compared with decision support information and information exchange. Scheduling appointments, exams or surgeries were available at 53% in public establishments and 56% in private ones; generate orders for materials and supplies at 50% in public establishments with Internet access, and 39% in private ones. Decision support features such as clinical guidelines, alerts and reminders about drug allergies or contraindications were present in about a quarter of all health facilities with Internet access.
ICT Infrastructure and Management
Data from the 2018 ICT Health survey also reveal the use of computers (91%) and Internet access (83%) in public health facilities, and in private ones, remained stable (99% in both cases) compared to the previous year. In addition to the disparity in relation to the administrative sphere, Internet access in health facilities was also different according to the region: those with the lowest percentage are North (80%) and Northeast (82%).
Regarding data security and protection, the research shows that 19% of public establishments and 27% of private establishments had some document that defines a security policy. Information security tools such as e-mail encryption (27% public and 56% private) and database encryption (24% public and 35% private) are still the ones with the lowest percentages of use by healthcare facilities.
Online services offered to patients and telehealth
The online services most made available by the total number of establishments for patient access were appointment scheduling (26%), exam scheduling (27%) and results visualization (26%). The highlight was for establishments without hospitalization, which showed an upward trend in the availability of online appointments, from 18%, in 2016, to 29%, in 2018.
Following the trend shown in previous years, the availability of telehealth services was greater in public establishments than in private ones, especially with regard to distance education in health (37% in public versus 12% in private) and distance research activities (29% in public versus 8% in private).
The 6th edition of the survey presents new indicators of telehealth services, such as teleconsulting (29% in public and 11% in private), second formative opinion (17% in public and 5% in private) and telediagnosis (22% in public and 4% in private). “A better use of the potential of telehealth is essential for the search for a real universalization of the services provided”, adds Barbosa.
Adoption of ICT among doctors and nurses
The survey shows that only 25% of nurses and 19% of physicians reported having taken a course related to the area of health informatics in the 12 months prior to the survey. In general, professionals from private establishments take more courses in this area, when compared to those from public establishments. According to the perception of doctors and nurses, among the most mentioned impacts in relation to the use of electronic systems are: the improvement in the efficiency of the teams' work processes (92% for both) and the perception that electronic systems provide greater efficiency in the care (89% for nurses and 84% for doctors). In addition, only 29% of nurses and 34% of physicians agreed that the financial resources for investment in electronic systems were sufficient for the needs of the establishment.
about the search
The ICT Health survey aims to investigate the penetration of ICTs in health facilities and their appropriation by health professionals (doctors and nurses). In its sixth edition, the survey interviewed 2,387 managers of health facilities located throughout the national territory. In addition, 1,697 doctors and 2,716 nurses linked to these establishments were interviewed. Data collection took place between July and November 2018, for managers, and for the sample of health professionals, data collection was carried out between September 2018 and February 2019.
To access the research in its entirety, as well as review the historical series, visit: cetic.br/pesquisa/saude/indicadores. Read the annual publication at cetic.br/pesquisa/saude/publicacoes, and compare the evolution of indicators from the data visualization: data.cetic.br/cetic/explore?idPesquisa=TIC_SAUDE
