Digital transformation in healthcare: how the pandemic affected patients' use of telemedicine in Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Rombo, Maria Inês Evangelino
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/23912
• topic: Digital transformation; Healthcare sector; Telemedicine; Teleconsultation; Pandemic; Patients' perception; Transformação digital; Setor da saúde; Telemedicina; Teleconsulta; Pandemia; Perceção dos pacientes

Digital transformation has had a tremendous impact in the healthcare sector throughout the years. A set of new technologies have been emerging that allow health facilities to deliver the best care to their patients. Throughout the last year and a half, the impact of the covid-19 pandemic has been undeniable. The healthcare sector never stopped working, being the most affected sector of our society in terms of lack of resources. Thus, hospitals were overflooded with covid-19 patients and had to find a way to prevent reaching its maximum overall capacity. While doctors were occupied treating covid-19 patients, they were forced to find other ways to treat patients with different and less critical diseases. Telemedicine (e.g., teleconsultations, teleradiology, etc.) has been around for many years, allowing patients to access healthcare from wherever they are. However, patients have never seen it as a first choice when it comes to medical treatment. With the coronavirus spreading, hospitals began to incorporate more teleconsultations in their daily activities, with the main goal to avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital. This thesis, focused on teleconsultations in Portugal, aims to evaluate how patients perceived them before and during the pandemic, and how their experience has been so far. Moreover, it aims to analyse their expectations for the future and understand if they would start or continue to use it. To better understand this matter, a survey was developed and distributed to the Portuguese population. In the end, conclusions are displayed, and further recommendations and limitations are portrayed.