Soluções em saúde digital para enfrentamento da Covid-19 no Brasil

Abstract

Digital Health (DH) is the field of knowledge and practice associated with the development and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to enhance health. In 2020, was published the Digital Health Strategy tô Brazil 2020-2028 and also established the Conecte SUS Program and the National Health Data Network (RNDS), both aimed at digitizing healthcare and integrating public and private health facilities and management bodies. Simultaneously, the Covid-19 pandemic made the articulation and understanding of DH essential for professional practice, given the increasing use of telehealth, electronic medical records, applications, and data visualization panels, highlighting the importance of structuring a digitized, interconnected Unified Health System (SUS) capable of engaging with its population, which should actively participate in its health-disease process. The objective was to analyze the state of the art of nationwide digital health solutions implemented for Covid-19 surveillance, prevention, control, and clinical management, using the ESD28 as a paradigm. This study is an excerpt from a broader research project titled “Scoping Review on Digital Health Solutions for Covid-19 in BRICS Member Countries.” The review followed the methodology outlined by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), based on the framework initially proposed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). It involved five stages: 1) defining the objective and research question, 2) identifying relevant documents, 3) selecting data, 4) extracting data, and 5) analyzing and summarizing results. Bibliometric analysis indicated a concentration of studies in the Southeast region, published in 2021, the presence of small research groups distributed across the country with little interconnection, and the existence of a development and implementation ecosystem in a Northeastern state. Only 16% of the documents provided minimally detailed descriptions of DH solutions, with key themes including telehealth services/care and the use of algorithmic models and machine learning to predict mortality cases or infection rates based on symptoms. Among the mapped solutions, 44.27% had national coverage, 69.42% were developed mainly by the public sector, and 21% focused on disease management. A total of 80% were classified as e-Health technologies, encompassing telemedicine, applications, and data hosting and visualization platforms. The evaluation of M&E results indicated a brief description of the implementation steps and dissemination process in most records, although telemedicine platforms showed good adoption rates, with limited information on the implementation of tracking apps, robotics, and IoT. Thus, the study highlights the growing relevance of the topic and the need for coordination to achieve the priorities set by ESD28, contributing to the planning and execution of DH policies in Brazil and future M&E research on DH solutions implemented within the SUS.