Healthcare (Jul 2024)
The Use of COVID-19 Mobile Apps in Connecting Patients with Primary Healthcare in 30 Countries: Eurodata Study
- Raquel Gómez-Bravo,
- Sara Ares-Blanco,
- Ileana Gefaell Larrondo,
- Lourdes Ramos Del Rio,
- Limor Adler,
- Radost Assenova,
- Maria Bakola,
- Sabine Bayen,
- Elena Brutskaya-Stempkovskaya,
- Iliana-Carmen Busneag,
- Asja Ćosić Divjak,
- Maryher Delphin Peña,
- Philippe-Richard Domeyer,
- Sabine Feldmane,
- Louise Fitzgerald,
- Dragan Gjorgjievski,
- Mila Gómez-Johansson,
- Miroslav Hanževački,
- Oksana Ilkov,
- Shushman Ivanna,
- Marijana Jandrić-Kočić,
- Vasilis Trifon Karathanos,
- Erva Ücüncü,
- Aleksandar Kirkovski,
- Snežana Knežević,
- Büsra Çimen Korkmaz,
- Milena Kostić,
- Anna Krztoń-Królewiecka,
- Liga Kozlovska,
- Heidrun Lingner,
- Liubovė Murauskienė,
- Katarzyna Nessler,
- Naldy Parodi López,
- Ábel Perjés,
- Davorina Petek,
- Ferdinando Petrazzuoli,
- Goranka Petricek,
- Martin Sattler,
- Bohumil Seifert,
- Alice Serafini,
- Theresa Sentker,
- Gunta Ticmane,
- Paula Tiili,
- Péter Torzsa,
- Kirsi Valtonen,
- Bert Vaes,
- Shlomo Vinker,
- Ana Luisa Neves,
- Marina Guisado-Clavero,
- María Pilar Astier-Peña,
- Kathryn Hoffmann
Affiliations
- Raquel Gómez-Bravo
- Centre Hospitalier Neuro-Psychiatrique, CHNP, 43, Avenue des Alliés, L-9012 Ettelbruck, Luxembourg
- Sara Ares-Blanco
- Federica Montseny Health Centre, Gerencia Asistencial de Atención Primaria, Servicio Madrileño de Salud, Avenida de la Albufera, 285, 28038 Madrid, Spain
- Ileana Gefaell Larrondo
- Fundación de Investigación e Innovación Biosanitaria de Atención Primaria (FIIBAP), 28003 Madrid, Spain
- Lourdes Ramos Del Rio
- Federica Montseny Health Centre, Gerencia Asistencial de Atención Primaria, Servicio Madrileño de Salud, Avenida de la Albufera, 285, 28038 Madrid, Spain
- Limor Adler
- Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- Radost Assenova
- Department Urology and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Maria Bakola
- Research Unit for General Medicine and Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Science, University of Ioannina, 451 10 Ioannina, Greece
- Sabine Bayen
- Department of General Practice, Faculté de Médicine Henri Warembourg, University of Lille, 59045 Lille, CEDEX 1, France
- Elena Brutskaya-Stempkovskaya
- General Medicine Department, Belarusian State Medical University, 220116 Minsk, Belarus
- Iliana-Carmen Busneag
- Kinetic Therapy and Special Motricity, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, “Spiru Haret” University, 030045 Bucharest, Romania
- Asja Ćosić Divjak
- Health Centre Zagreb Centar, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
- Maryher Delphin Peña
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Hôpitaux Robert Schuman, L-1130 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- Philippe-Richard Domeyer
- School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, 263 35 Patra, Greece
- Sabine Feldmane
- Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Rīga Stradins University, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia
- Louise Fitzgerald
- Irish College of General Practice (MICGP), Royal College of Physician (MRCSI), D02 YN77 Dublin, Ireland
- Dragan Gjorgjievski
- Center for Family Medicine, Medical Faculty Skopje, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
- Mila Gómez-Johansson
- Capio Kvillebäcken Health Centre, 417 22 Gothenburg, Sweden
- Miroslav Hanževački
- Department of Family Medicine, “Andrija Stampar” School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
- Oksana Ilkov
- Department of Family Medicine and Outpatient Care, Medical Faculty, Uzhhorod National University, Narodna Square, 3, 88000 Uzhhorod, Transcarpathian Region, Ukraine
- Shushman Ivanna
- Department of Family Medicine and Outpatient Care, Medical Faculty, Uzhhorod National University, Narodna Square, 3, 88000 Uzhhorod, Transcarpathian Region, Ukraine
- Marijana Jandrić-Kočić
- Health Center Krupa Na Uni, 79227 Krupa na Uni, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Vasilis Trifon Karathanos
- Medical Education Unit, Laboratory of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 451 10 Ioannina, Greece
- Erva Ücüncü
- Department of Family Medicine, Prof. Dr. Cemil Tascioglu City Hospital, 34384 Istanbul, Turkey
- Aleksandar Kirkovski
- Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
- Snežana Knežević
- Department of Medical Sciences, Academy of Applied Studies Polytechnic, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Büsra Çimen Korkmaz
- Van Gürpınar District Public Hospital, 65900 Gürpınar, Turkey
- Milena Kostić
- Health Center “Dr. Đorđe Kovačević”, 11550 Lazarevac, Serbia
- Anna Krztoń-Królewiecka
- Department of Family Medicine, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, 30-705 Krakow, Poland
- Liga Kozlovska
- Department of Family Medicine, Riga Stradins University, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia
- Heidrun Lingner
- Center for Public Health and Healthcare, Department of Medical Psychologie OE5430, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
- Liubovė Murauskienė
- Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
- Katarzyna Nessler
- Department of Family Medicine, Uniwersytet Jagielloński—Collegium Medicum (UJCM), 31-061 Krakow, Poland
- Naldy Parodi López
- Department of Pharmacology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
- Ábel Perjés
- Department of Family Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
- Davorina Petek
- Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Vrazov trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Ferdinando Petrazzuoli
- Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Centre for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, 221 00 Malmö, Sweden
- Goranka Petricek
- Department of Family Medicine, “Andrija Stampar” School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
- Martin Sattler
- European Parliament, L-2929 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- Bohumil Seifert
- Institute of General Practice, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Albertov 7, 110 00 Prague, Czech Republic
- Alice Serafini
- Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Modena, Laboratorio EduCare, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41121 Reggio Emilia, Italy
- Theresa Sentker
- Center for Public Health and Healthcare, Department of Medical Psychologie OE5430, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
- Gunta Ticmane
- Department of Family Medicine, Riga Stradins University, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia
- Paula Tiili
- Communicable Diseases and Infection Control Unit, Wellbeing Services, County of Vantaa and Kerava, P.O. Box 341, 01301 Vantaa, Finland
- Péter Torzsa
- Department of Family Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
- Kirsi Valtonen
- Communicable Diseases and Infection Control Unit, Wellbeing Services, County of Vantaa and Kerava, P.O. Box 341, 01301 Vantaa, Finland
- Bert Vaes
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Shlomo Vinker
- Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- Ana Luisa Neves
- Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
- Marina Guisado-Clavero
- Investigation Support Multidisciplinary Unit for Primary Care and Community North Area of Madrid, 28035 Madrid, Spain
- María Pilar Astier-Peña
- Universitas Health Centre, SALUD (Servicio Aragonés de Salud), University of Zaragoza, Andres Vicente 42, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
- Kathryn Hoffmann
- Department of Primary Care Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12141420
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12,
no. 14
p. 1420
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated changes in European healthcare systems, with a significant proportion of COVID-19 cases being managed on an outpatient basis in primary healthcare (PHC). To alleviate the burden on healthcare facilities, many European countries developed contact-tracing apps and symptom checkers to identify potential cases. As the pandemic evolved, the European Union introduced the Digital COVID-19 Certificate for travel, which relies on vaccination, recent recovery, or negative test results. However, the integration between these apps and PHC has not been thoroughly explored in Europe. Objective: To describe if governmental COVID-19 apps allowed COVID-19 patients to connect with PHC through their apps in Europe and to examine how the Digital COVID-19 Certificate was obtained. Methodology: Design and setting: Retrospective descriptive study in PHC in 30 European countries. An ad hoc, semi-structured questionnaire was developed to collect country-specific data on primary healthcare activity during the COVID-19 pandemic and the use of information technology tools to support medical care from 15 March 2020 to 31 August 2021. Key informants belong to the WONCA Europe network (World Organization of Family Doctors). The data were collected from relevant and reliable official sources, such as governmental websites and guidelines. Main outcome measures: Patient’s first contact with health system, governmental COVID-19 app (name and function), Digital COVID-19 Certification, COVID-19 app connection with PHC. Results: Primary care was the first point of care for suspected COVID-19 patients in 28 countries, and 24 countries developed apps to complement classical medical care. The most frequently developed app was for tracing COVID-19 cases (24 countries), followed by the Digital COVID-19 Certificate app (17 countries). Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Romania had interoperability between PHC and COVID-19 apps, and Poland and Romania’s apps considered social needs. Conclusions: COVID-19 apps were widely created during the first pandemic year. Contact tracing was the most frequent function found in the registered apps. Connection with PHC was scarcely developed. In future pandemics, connections between health system levels should be guaranteed to develop and implement effective strategies for managing diseases.
Keywords
