Suitability assessment of a telespirometry service

• Autor(a) principal: Faria, Amanda Gomes
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Molina-Bastos, Cynthia Goulart, Gonçalves, Marcelo Rodrigues, Schmitz, Carlos André Aita
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://www.rbmfc.org.br/rbmfc/article/view/3105
• topic: Telemedicine; Spirometry; Asthma; Pulmonary disease; chronic obstructive.; Telemedicina; Espirometria; Asma; Doença pulmonar obstrutiva crônica.; Telemedicina; Espirometría; Asma; Enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica.

Introduction: Chronic respiratory diseases are among the main public health problems in the world. Despite being sensitive to treatment in Primary Health Care, they are the third leading cause of deaths in Brazil. Telemedicine services present themselves as important allies of health professionals regarding the management of respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Objective: to evaluate the adequacy of a telemedicine diagnostic service in spirometry considering the indicators of supply, use and population coverage in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.  Results: In the studied period, the service offered 27,672 telespirometry tests to users of the Brazilian Unified Health System referred by Primary Health Care physicians; the use was under 50% in relation to the offer in all health macro-regions of the state. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that the capacity installed by the service was adequate to meet the demand of the population in Rio Grande do Sul. However, the low usage of the service may be associated with lack of knowledge about the service and the difficulty to recognize these diseases by health professionals in Primary Health Care.