Article Preview
TopIntroduction
When reflecting on the main barriers in relation to digital health systems, there is a set of concerns, already evaluated, such as: lack of knowledge of applications; lack of training of professionals, unknown effective cost, lack of legal policies/ regulations, underdeveloped infrastructure, lack of research and leadership and investments, in addition to human barriers (beliefs, constraints).
The e-health process covers a national, European and international strategic vision.
In June 2020, the European Commission pointed out 3 priorities for the Digital Transformation of Health and Care in the Digital Single Market:
- 1.
Data security: Citizens' secure access to their health data, also across borders - allowing citizens to access their health data across the European Union;
- 2.
Shared personalized health: By sharing a European infrastructure that allows researchers and professionals to accumulate resources (data, knowledge, compute processing and storage capacities);
- 3.
Citizen empowerment with digital tools for user feedback and people-centric care: Using digital tools to empower people to take care of their health, stimulate prevention and enable feedback and interaction between users and healthcare providers.
The question that the European Union poses is how to ensure citizens' access to their health data in Europe safely. The European Commission asks: What does Europe have to do to make this happen? And the answers relate to the following three points, associated with the rights, electronic records and the necessary investments to be made.
- 1.
Review patients' rights in cross-border healthcare (Article 14) to define the role of the e-health network in the governance of service infrastructure (EHDSI) and the rules on cross-border data transfers should be clarified;
- 2.
Draw up a recommendation with technical specifications on how citizens' electronic health records can be exchanged across the EU;
- 3.
Create investments to extend the programme to include the infrastructure network (EHDSI)with funding for the introduction of the exchange of electronic national health records between participating Member States.
The National Academies (2020) states that so-called digital literacy or and-health literacy has to do with the ability to search, find, understand and evaluate health information from electronic sources and then apply that knowledge to address a health problem.
Part 1 of the concept of National Academies (2020), it’s easy: the ability to search, find health information from electronic sources (mobile + internet).
Part 2 of the concept National Academies (2020), it’s difficult: understanding and evaluating health information from electronic sources.
Literacy and health issues in their dimensions need to be considered with even greater care when we talk about e-health.
According to Jackson, Trivedi and Baur (2020), good e-Health literacy allows individuals to participate more fully in health care activities and play a role in improving their outcomes.
The crisis of course naturally brought questions about distance communication to fill gaps due to the impossibility of face-to-face interaction in health.
There are two parts to this concept of e-health, one of which is easier associated with functional literacy, and a second part of the concept, much more difficult, related to interactive and critical literacy, which requires greater effort to triage, analysis and decision-making with regard to health information (Figure 1).
Figure 1.
3 dimensions of Health Literacy
According Eysenbach, (2001) e-health is a model that is more than technological development. It is a way of thinking, an attitude and commitment of networking to improve local, regional, national and global health, using information and communication technology.