INTERPROFESSIONAL CARE MANAGEMENT FOR PERSONS WITH CHRONIC CONDITIONS USING TELEHEALTH DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A SCOPING REVIEW

S.A. Asiddao¹, P.R. Bello¹, V.A. Del Rosario¹, M.A. Elardo¹, J.M. Enriquez¹, Y. Galupe¹, Z.S. Murata¹, C.D. Perez¹

¹University of the Philippines Manila, Department of Physical Therapy, Manila City, Philippines

Background: Medical institutions highly prioritized health emergencies and COVID-19 responses at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, placing people with chronic health conditions at risk for delayed access to care that can lead to health complications and decreased quality of life. The pandemic mandated a sudden shift in healthcare delivery, forcing its transition to a telehealth mode of delivery. Interprofessional care (IPC) has been incorporated in managing health conditions before and even during the spread of COVID-19. However, limited evidence exists on the use of IPC in telehealth interventions for persons with chronic health conditions during the pandemic.

Purpose: We aimed to describe the characteristics of studies that integrated IPC approaches and strategies in the management of chronic health conditions using telehealth mode, and to identify gaps in current literature on the use of IPC in remote medical management for persons with chronic conditions.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review guided by the PRISMA-ScR and Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. We searched in PubMed using search terms related to collaboration, chronic conditions, and telehealth. We included studies that used IPC in remote management of chronic health conditions published in the English language from January 2020 until February 2022. We extracted information using a piloted form. We analyzed data descriptively to describe IPC strategies and approaches employed.

Results: The search yielded 18,910 titles. We included 27 studies after title, abstract, and full text screenings. We found eighteen studies that reported the use of multidisciplinary approach in chronic care telehealth management, and 21 studies that employed interprofessional practice strategies. One study found that services employing multidisciplinary remote monitoring reported benefits. Telehealth IPC-integrated interventions were heterogeneous across included studies. All studies were conducted in developed countries and the most common telehealth strategies employed were videoconferencing and telephone calls.

Conclusions: Existing literature on incorporating IPC in managing chronic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic is severely lacking, especially with wide heterogeneity in the conduct through telehealth. Therefore, there is a need to conduct high-quality studies on IPC-integrated telehealth interventions for persons with chronic health conditions during the pandemic. We recommend the development of standardized evaluation methods for IPC strategies and outcomes, and further studies in developing countries.

Implications: Healthcare professionals, including physiotherapists, work together in addressing the needs of patients. Intentional integration of IPC management in telehealth care is critical in improving service delivery and will augment the effectiveness of each healthcare professional in teams, especially in the context of pandemics. The development of standardized evaluation methods on IPC strategies and outcomes is essential in responsive organizational and institutional processes, high quality research, effective education systems, and synergistic government dynamics.

Funding acknowledgements: None

Keywords:
Interprofessional care
Chronic conditions
Telehealth

Topics:
Service delivery/emerging roles
Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies
Research methodology, knowledge translation & implementation science

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason:

The study is a scoping review that does not involve human participants.