Recently regulated, teleconsultation or non-face-to-face medical consultation was used by 33% of doctors and 26% of nurses across the country in patient care in 2022. The data was released this week by the Center for Regional Studies for the Development of Society of Information (Cetic). This year’s ICT Health survey shows an increase in the use of technologies by professionals in the sector when compared to the period before the pandemic, which, for researchers, can positively impact health care.
One of the advances involves electronically available patient data. Among nurses, nursing notes increased from 52% in 2019 to 85% this year. the patient’s medical history and notes, from 62% to 85%; and images and radiological exams, from 42% to 65%. Among doctors, the biggest increases were in the availability of a list of prescribed drugs (from 74% to 85%); in the main reasons that led the patient to the service (from 77% to 85%); and in nursing notes (69% to 79%).
The survey found progress in the use of so-called telehealth, services provided remotely through information and communication technologies. Remote monitoring of patients, for example, which in 2019 was performed by 16% of nurses, started to be used by 29% of them in 2022. Among doctors, the practice went from 9% to 23% in the same period. Also in the comparison between 2019 and 2022, the teleconsulting service, contact between professionals in the area to solve doubts, increased from 26% to 34% among nurses and from 26% to 45% among physicians.
The data also show that the medical prescription in electronic format has been used by 68% of doctors in the country. However, the form of signature of the prescriptions continues to be mostly manual (71%). With regard to prescriptions made by nurses – an item included for the first time in the survey – 51% were performed by computer and 68% were manually signed.
Infrastructure
In 2022, according to the study, 97% of public health facilities already had a computer, compared to 94% in 2021. In the Northeast, for example, 97% of these places have a computer and internet available, against rates of 92% and 91 %, respectively, in the previous year. Basic health units (UBS) registered an increase in the use of computers (from 94% to 97% in the same period) and in internet access (from 92% to 97%). Of a total of 43 thousand UBS, 1.3 thousand do not have these technological resources.
Information security
Also according to the survey, the percentage of health establishments that have a defined information security policy increased from 30% in 2021 to 39% in 2022. The advance was greater among private establishments, where half have a policy on the subject, against 25% of the public.
The search
Held since 2013, ICT Health aims to investigate the penetration of information and communication technologies in health establishments and their appropriation by health professionals. The study has the support of international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco ).
The research is supported by the Ministry of Health and the Department of Informatics of the SUS (Datasus), by the National Supplementary Health Agency (ANS), by the National Council of Health Secretariats (Conass), by the National Council of Municipal Health Secretariats (Conasems) and by the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics (SBIS).
In this year’s edition, interviews were conducted between April and October 2022 with 2,127 managers of health facilities located throughout the national territory. The survey also interviewed 1,942 health professionals.
