Inequity in Access and Delivery of Virtual Care Interventions: A Scoping Review

Sabuj Kanti Mistry, Miranda Shaw, Freya Raffan, George Johnson, Katelyn Perren, Saito Shoko, Ben Harris-Roxas and Fiona Haigh
Additional contact information
Sabuj Kanti Mistry: Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Miranda Shaw: RPA Virtual Hospital, Sydney 2050, Australia
Freya Raffan: RPA Virtual Hospital, Sydney 2050, Australia
George Johnson: Sydney Institute for Women, Children and their Families, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney 2050, Australia
Katelyn Perren: Sydney Institute for Women, Children and their Families, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney 2050, Australia
Saito Shoko: Health Equity Research Development Unit (HERDU), Centre for Primary Health Care & Equity, The University of New South Wales, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney 2050, Australia
Ben Harris-Roxas: School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Fiona Haigh: Health Equity Research Development Unit (HERDU), Centre for Primary Health Care & Equity, The University of New South Wales, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney 2050, Australia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: The objectives of this review were to map and summarize the existing evidence from a global perspective about inequity in access and delivery of virtual care interventions and to identify strategies that may be adopted by virtual care services to address these inequities. We searched MEDLINE , EMBASE , and CINAHL using both medical subject headings (MeSH) and free-text keywords for empirical studies exploring inequity in ambulatory services offered virtually. Forty-one studies were included, most of them cross-sectional in design. Included studies were extracted using a customized extraction tool, and descriptive analysis was performed. The review identified widespread differences in accessing and using virtual care interventions among cultural and ethnic minorities, older people, socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, people with limited digital and/or health literacy, and those with limited access to digital devices and good connectivity. Potential solutions addressing these barriers identified in the review included having digitally literate caregivers present during virtual care appointments, conducting virtual care appointments in culturally sensitive manner, and having a focus on enhancing patients’ digital literacy. We identified evidence-based practices for virtual care interventions to ensure equity in access and delivery for their virtual care patients.

Keywords: inequality; health equity; health services; virtual care; COVID-19; scoping review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9411/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9411/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9411-:d:877473

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().