Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Background The COVID-19 pandemic is straining health systems and disrupting the delivery of health care services, in particular, for older adults and people with chronic conditions, who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Objective The aim of this project was to support primary health care provision with a digital health platform that will allow primary care physicians and nurses to remotely manage the care of patients with chronic diseases or COVID-19 infections. Methods For the rapid design and implementation of a digital platform to support primary health care services, we followed the Design Science implementation framework: (1) problem identification and motivation, (2) definition of the objectives aligned with goal-oriented care, (3) artefact design and development based on Scrum, (4) solution demonstration, (5) evaluation, and (6) communication. Results The digital platform was developed for the specific objectives of the project and successfully piloted in 3 p...

Introducao – A telemedicina, como meio para a prestacao de cuidados de saude a distância, permite quebrar barreiras e limitacoes existentes nos sistemas de saude, podendo ser um meio para responder ao desafio da globalizacao e do acesso universal a saude 1 . Desde 2003, a expandir-se e a ganhar cada vez mais seguidores, com apoio da rede de telemedicina RAFT, que conta ja com a participacao de mais de um milhar de profissionais de paises africanos, tem garantido a ligacao entre uma extensa rede de profissionais da saude 2 . Objectivo – Pretendeu-se expandir a rede de telemedicina em Angola para cumprir uma estrategia de municipalizacao da saude, com a promocao da participacao dos profissionais de saude. Metodos – Durante o ultimo ano promoveu-se a rede junto dos profissionais de saude em Portugal e PALOP, com vista a alargar a rede de colaboracao internacional em lingua portuguesa tanto ao nivel da teleconsulta como ao nivel da capacitacao e formacao continua a distância dos profiss...

IntroductionThe rising incidence of skin cancer over the years has made it a significant public and occupational health issue. However, skin cancer is highly preventable, mainly through reduced exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR), which can be achieved by a variety of individual and collective protective measures and interventions. The relative risk associated with different patterns of exposure to solar UVR differs for the subtypes of keratinocyte cancers (KC). Specifically, whether the exposure is intermittent or continuous, and occurs in an occupational or leisure/recreational setting. The main aim of the study using this protocol is to contribute to raising public and policy awareness on solar UVR-inflicted occupational skin cancers in Lisbon. This will be achieved by performing direct measurements of the solar UVR dose received by outdoor workers using a digital platform. Results will likely contribute to further understanding the risk estimates for keratinocyte cance...

Background Telemedicine services are promoting more access to healthcare. Portugal was an early adopter of telemedicine to overcome both its geological barriers and the shortage of healthcare professionals. The Pediatric Cardiology Service (PCS) at Coimbra University Hospital Centre (CHUC) has been using telemedicine to increase access and coverage since 1998. Their Pediatric Telecardiology Service has been daily connecting CHUC with 13 other Portuguese national hospitals, and regularly connecting with Portuguese-speaking African countries, through a teleconsultation platform. Methods This study aims at exploring the Pediatric Telecardiology Service’s evolution, through a comprehensive assessment of the PCS’s development, evolution and impact in public health, to better understand the critical factors for implementation and sustainability of telemedicine, in the context of healthcare services digitalization. A case study was performed, with cost-benefit, critical factors and organiz...

HAITooL is a surveillance and decision-support tool for physicians, the Infection and Prevention Control Team, pharmacists, and microbiologists. It integrates patients, microbiology and pharmacy data, from multiple sources, enabling effective monitoring of antibiotic resistance, antibiotic use and provides an antibiotic prescription decision- supporting system by clinicians, strengthening patient safety. HAITooL information system design and implementation, based on Design Science Research Methodology, ensured full participation, in close collaboration of a multidisciplinary team of researchers and healthcare professionals. Leadership commitment, multidisciplinary team and mainly informaticians engagement was crucial to the implementation process. The design, development and implementation process reveals benefits in organizational and behavior change with success.

Introduction – Telemedicine, as a tool for distance health care delivery, enables to overcome the existing barriers and limitations to health systems. It may be the way to answer the challenge of health globalization and universal access to health Since 2003, the RAFT Telemedicine network, has been expanding and capturing more followers. RAFT already counts on the participation of more than one thousand health professionals from African countries, allowing them to communicate within the extensive professionals’ network they constitute. Objective – The main goal was to expand the telemedicine network in Angola, to carry on a health municipalisation strategy, with the promotion of health professionals’ participation. Methods – During last year, the network was promoted among health professionals in Portugal and PALOP territories, in order to enlarge the Portuguese speaking collaboration network, in teleconsultation, teletraining and tele-education, giving support to local professional...

The Covid-19 pandemic is causing a set of disruptions, especially at the delivery of healthcare services. The pandemic has shown subsidiary health effects like, chronic care, mental health, surgeries, and deadlock in the other diseases’ treatment. A digital health platform (PrimaryCare@COVID-19) was implemented to be used by primary care physicians, and nurses, to address both chronic care and COVID-19-related patients at home or traveling. It has been piloted in three Health centers at Lisbon Health Region and it could be scale-up to all primary care in Portugal in the near future. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation to address Primary Care consultations and chronic care services shortage. The clinical primary care processes were studied and a digital workflow was defined using Design Science Research Methods. This project‘s innovative digital platform is already covering several dozens of chronic patients while at home and addressing the communication with C...

HAITooL information system design and implementation was based on Design Science Research Methodology, ensuring full participation, in close collaboration, of researchers and a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals. HAITooL enables effective monitoring of antibiotic resistance, antibiotic use and provides an antibiotic prescription decision-supporting system by clinicians, strengthening the patient safety procedures. The design, development and implementation process reveals benefits in organizational and behavior change with significant success. Leadership commitment multidisciplinary team and mainly informaticians engagement was crucial to the implementation process. Participants' motivation and the final product delivery and evolution depends on that.