Articles: pandemics.
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The use of telemedicine increased during the global Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Rural populations often struggle with adequate access to care while simultaneously experiencing multiple health disparities. Yet, telemedicine use during the COVID-19 pandemic has been understudied on its effect on visit completion in rural populations. The primary purpose of this study is to understand how telemedicine delivery of family medicine care affects patient access and visit completion rates in a rural primary care setting. ⋯ Telemedicine can be a tool to improve patient access to primary care in rural populations. Our findings suggest that telemedicine may facilitate access to care for difficult-to-reach patients, such as those in rural areas, as well as those who have rigid work schedules, live longer distances from the clinic, have complex health problems, and are from areas of higher poverty and/or lower education.
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Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, access to healthcare services may have become difficult, which may have led to an increase in chronic diseases and multimorbidity. ⋯ The incidence of multimorbidity during a six-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic was 27.1% in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
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National telehealth policy thus far has focused on broadening access to service, specialties, and originating sites. Yet telehealth policy can further equity by providing system-level change needed to reduce structural determinants that hamper telehealth access in historically marginalized, low income, and limited English-speaking populations. The authors propose policy solutions for states and CMS to help address these structural determinants of telehealth care. A telehealth "ecosystem" grounded in the following core components would ensure equitable access to care: use of technology inclusive of economically marginalized patients, access to the technology and broadband for completing virtual visits, and concrete support for patients as they develop their digital and telehealth skills.
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Background The Covid-19 pandemic caused a rapidly evolving and confused situation. Health sciences students (HSSs) are not immune to depression, anxiety and stress during such a pandemic. We aimed to assess the relation between depression, anxiety, stress and resilience among undergraduate HSSs during the Covid-19 lockdown. ⋯ Conclusion A proportion of HSSs had anxiety, depression and stress during the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown. Respondents with high resilience had less frequent depression, anxiety and stress. In the long run, strengthening resilience of HSSs may be useful.
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Healthcare workers (HCWs), particularly those from ethnic minority groups, have been shown to be at disproportionately higher risk of infection with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to the general population. However, there is insufficient evidence on how demographic and occupational factors influence infection risk among ethnic minority HCWs. ⋯ We identified key sociodemographic and occupational risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection among UK HCWs, and have determined factors that might contribute to a disproportionate odds of infection in HCWs from Black ethnic groups. These findings demonstrate the importance of social and occupational factors in driving ethnic disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, and should inform policies, including targeted vaccination strategies and risk assessments aimed at protecting HCWs in future waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.