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Ontwikkelingen rondom e-health tijdens de COVID-19-pandemie: bevindingen vanuit de literatuur en empirisch onderzoek.

Vaart, R. van der, Kouwenberg, L.H.J.A., Oosterhoff, M., Rotteveel, A.H., Tuyl, L. van, Vliet, E.D. van. Ontwikkelingen rondom e-health tijdens de COVID-19-pandemie: bevindingen vanuit de literatuur en empirisch onderzoek. Bilthoven: RIVM, 2022. 92 p. p.
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Background
The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus made it necessary for a lot of healthcare to be provided ‘remotely’ using e-health. Examples of e-health include video consultations, online written consultations and remote patient monitoring, such as blood pressure or blood glucose measurements. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) studied the developments in the use of e-health during the coronavirus pandemic in the Netherlands.

Results
The results showed an increase in the use of e-health compared to before the pandemic. The use of e-health was facilitated. For instance, the government increased funding and expanded the terms of use. This enabled healthcare providers and patients to gain more experience with e-health and to learn when it is and is not suitable. Video consultations were the most commonly used type of e-health. It was primarily used when infection rates of the coronavirus peaked. E-health was also used to treat COVID-19 patients. For example, patients would take their measurements at home with healthcare providers being able to monitor these remotely. Both healthcare providers and patients have discovered benefits of e-health during the pandemic which they had previously not been aware of. For example, it was easier for healthcare providers to involve a patient’s loved ones in the consultation through e-health. Furthermore, patients saved on travel time. These experiences led to a more positive attitude on e-health. However, e-health was not quite so well-suited to some types of healthcare, such as appointments requiring physical examination. Both healthcare providers and patients would prefer a combination of e-health and face-to-face visits in the future. It remains to be seen in which situation e-health will be beneficial once the pandemic is over. To be able to gain more insight into this, continued use of and experimentation with e-health will be needed.

Methods
For the purposes of this research, RIVM studied the literature from the Netherlands and abroad. RIVM also analysed data from the ‘E-healthmonitor’.