RESUMO
Abstract Significant progress has been made in using information and communication technologies in medicine, by impacting the quality of health-care delivery system and patient care, and paving the way for ground-breaking tools for e-health and clinical decision-support systems. This study investigates the extent to which the evolution of telemedicine applications has been used to support patient care in Latin America (LATAM) amidst the pandemic. Theoretically, the study applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology to identify the impact of telemedicine in the region. Practically, the paper provides a systematic mapping study of the different domain areas and methodological progress in Telemedicine that occurred during the pandemic, and applied a text mining technique to understand the intensities of the terms expressed by the analyzed studies. The results show that while telemedicine has not been extensively used, a greater percentage of the studies report that telemedicine was effective. Approximately 70% positive emotional valence score was found. The paper also provides an empirical discussion and recommendations for the next steps in ample adoption of telemedicine.
Resumo Foram feitos progressos significativos na utilização de tecnologias de informação e comunicação na medicina, com impacto no sistema de prestação de cuidados de saúde e nos cuidados aos doentes, e abrindo caminho a ferramentas inovadoras para sistemas eletrônicos de saúde e de apoio à decisão clínica. O presente estudo investiga até que ponto o crescimento das aplicações da telemedicina tem sido utilizado para apoiar os cuidados aos doentes na América Latina (LATAM) em meio da pandemia. Teoricamente, o estudo aplicou a metodologia Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews e Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) para identificar o impacto da telemedicina na região. Na prática, o artigo apresenta um estudo de mapeamento sistemático das diferentes áreas de domínio e progresso metodológico em telemedicina que ocorreram durante a pandemia, e aplicou uma técnica de text mining para compreender as intensidades dos termos expressos pelos pesquisas analisadss. Os resultados mostram que, embora a telemedicina não tenha sido amplamente utilizada, um maior percentual de estudos informa que a telemedicina foi eficaz. Foi encontrada uma pontuação de valência emocional positiva de aproximadamente 70%. O documento também traz uma discussão empírica para os próximos passos na adoção da telemedicina.
RESUMO
Significant progress has been made in using information and communication technologies in medicine, by impacting the quality of health-care delivery system and patient care, and paving the way for ground-breaking tools for e-health and clinical decision-support systems. This study investigates the extent to which the evolution of telemedicine applications has been used to support patient care in Latin America (LATAM) amidst the pandemic. Theoretically, the study applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology to identify the impact of telemedicine in the region. Practically, the paper provides a systematic mapping study of the different domain areas and methodological progress in Telemedicine that occurred during the pandemic, and applied a text mining technique to understand the intensities of the terms expressed by the analyzed studies. The results show that while telemedicine has not been extensively used, a greater percentage of the studies report that telemedicine was effective. Approximately 70% positive emotional valence score was found. The paper also provides an empirical discussion and recommendations for the next steps in ample adoption of telemedicine.