Integrating Telehealth for Strengthening Health Systems in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Perspective from Peru.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the government to rapidly modify its legal framework to adopt telemedicine and promote the implementation of telehealth services to meet the healthcare needs of patients in Peru. In this paper, we aim to review the main changes to the regulatory framework and describe selected initiatives to promote the telehealth framework that emerged in Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we discuss the challenges to integrate telehealth services for strengthening health systems in Peru. The Peruvian telehealth regulatory framework began in 2005, and in subsequent years, laws and regulations were established that sought to progressively implement a national telehealth network. However, mainly local initiatives were deployed. In this sense, significant challenges remain to be addressed, such as infrastructure in healthcare centers, including high-speed Internet connectivity; infostructure of health-information systems, including interoperability with electronic medical records; monitoring and evaluation of the national agenda for the health sector in 2020-2025; expanding the healthcare workforce in terms of digital health; and developing the capacities of healthcare users on health literacy, including digital aspects. In addition, there is enormous potential for telemedicine as a key strategy to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and to improve access to rural and hard-to-reach areas and populations. There is thus an urgent need to effectively implement an integrated national telehealth system to address sociocultural issues and strengthen the competencies of human resources in telehealth and digital health in Peru.

Strengthening capacities of multidisciplinary professionals to apply data science in public health: Experience of an international graduate diploma program in Peru.

Nowadays it is necessary to strengthen health information systems and data-based solutions. However, there are few graduate training programs in Peru to use tools and methods of data science applied in public health. This article describes the development process and the initial assessment regarding the experience of the participants in an international multidisciplinary diploma in data intelligence for pandemics and epidemics preparedness, which was carried out from January to May 2021. The diploma was structured in 7 modules and 40 Peruvian professionals participated, of which 11 (27.5%) were women, and 16 (40%) came from regions outside of Lima and Callao. We discussed the need to strengthen institutional and health professionals' capacity to adequately manage large volumes of data, information, and knowledge through the application of emerging technologies to optimize data management processes to improve decision-making in health.

[Implementation of telemedicine in the Americas: Barriers and facilitatorsBarreiras e facilitadores para a implementação da telemedicina nas Américas]. / Barreras y facilitadores a la implementación de la telemedicina en las Américas.

With millions of people in the world in situations of physical distancing because of COVID-19, information and communication technology (ICT) has become as one of the principal means of interaction and collaboration. The following advantages of ICT have been cited since the start of the new millennium: increased access to information and service delivery, educational strengthening, quality control of screening programs, and reduction of health care costs. In the case of telemedicine, however, a number of barriers-especially technological, human and social, psychosocial, anthropological, economic, and governance-related-have stood in the way of its adoption. The past 20 years have seen an increase in the availability of resources and technical capacity, improvements in digital education, empowerment of patients regarding their treatment, and increased public interest in this area. Successes have included the use of interdisciplinary teams, academic and professional networking, and virtual medical consultations. After reviewing the state of telemedicine in the Region of the Americas, the authors recommend the urgent adoption of measures aimed at implementing national telemedicine policies and programs, including a regulatory framework and adequate funding. Implementation of the measures should be integrated and interoperable and include the support of academic networks and the collaboration of specialized institutions. The policies should generate an enabling context that ensures sustainability of the progress achieved, bearing in mind the possible barriers mentioned.

Com milhões de pessoas no mundo em situação de distanciamento físico devido à COVID-19, as tecnologias da informação e comunicação (TICs) se enquadraram como um dos meios principais de interação e colaboração. Já no início deste milênio, começaram a ser mencionadas as seguintes vantagens: maior acesso à informação e à prestação de serviços; fortalecimento da educação; controle de qualidade dos programas de detecção e redução dos custos na atenção à saúde. No entanto, entre as principais barreiras de adoção da telemedicina se encontram as de caráter: tecnológico; humano e social; psicossocial e antropológico; de governança e econômico. Nestes 20 anos, houve um aumento nos recursos e na capacidade técnica, uma melhora na educação digital, um empoderamento do paciente em seu tratamento e um maior interesse público nessa área. Em especial, são consideradas bem-sucedidas a constituição de equipes interdisciplinares e as redes acadêmicas e profissionais, e as consultas médicas virtuais. Após revisar o estado da telemedicina na Região das Américas, os autores recomendam a adoção de medidas urgentes para implementar políticas e programas nacionais de telemedicina, incluindo o marco normativo e o orçamento necessário. Essa implementação deve ser realizada de maneira integral e interoperável e sustentada por redes acadêmicas, de parceria e instituições especializadas. Tais políticas devem gerar um contexto favorável, dando sustentabilidade ao avanço obtido e considerando os aspectos mencionados nas possíveis barreiras.

COVID-19 reveals the urgent need to strengthen nursing informatics competencies: a view from Peru.

The COVID-19 pandemic requires an urgent action to transform health-care delivery and to promote research and capacity-building nursing programs. Specifically, many countries at the global level have described nursing informatics as an essential competence for nurse professionals. In Peru, nursing personnel represents the largest health workforce group and nursing informatics is still emerging, but the field appear to hold much promise. In this sense, the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MoH) defined in 2020 the core nursing competences, which included a technology and innovation domain. The competence established to apply scientifically based technology and innovation to improve the processes or health service resources. The minimum competencies established by the MoH were as follows: to carry out innovations in processes or resources in their different professional performance areas, to creatively adapt technology in different areas of professional performance, to make rational and ethical use of health technologies with focus on new developments that will be evaluated and applied critically, and to manage information and communication technologies, and health information systems, with emphasis on telehealth (i.e. telemedicine, telecare management, tele-education, and tele-training). Besides the nursing competences defined by the MoH is a good starting point, this special contribution discusses the urgent need to strengthen nursing informatics competencies in Peru.

Quality Evaluation of Health Services Using the Kano Model in Two Hospitals in Peru.

Public-private partnerships (PPP) represent an alternative model of health management focused on improving the quality of health services, particularly in emerging countries. To date, a systematic method to improve the perceived quality of health services by healthcare users in Peru has not been established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of health services in two PPP hospitals in Peru using the Kano model. A prospective cross-sectional descriptive observational study was carried out through a health service satisfaction survey using the Kano model methodology, measuring six categories of attributes. A total of 250 users of the health services were surveyed in the two PPP hospitals, located in Lima and Callao, using non-probability convenience sampling. Of the 31 attributes evaluated by the patients, 27 (81%) were classified as having a one-dimensional-type attribute, 3 (10%) were reported as mandatory, and 1 (3%) was considered as inverse. These results suggest that the presence of most of the attributes evaluated was relevant to maintaining the level of user satisfaction and that the absence of these attributes generated dissatisfaction in the users. The results showed that the users' evaluation of health services was multidimensional-namely, their evaluation was focused not only on the interaction space between the patient and medical personnel but also addressed other interaction services.

The role of telehealth in the fight against COVID-19 and the evolution of the Peruvian regulatory framework

RESUMEN Las tecnologías de información y comunicación (TIC) en salud cumplen un rol fundamental en el manejo de la pandemia por COVID-19. Esta pandemia ha permitido redescubrir la telesalud y ha acelerado el uso de plataformas digitales con servicios aplicados a la salud. En el marco de la pandemia del COVID-19, el Poder Ejecutivo ha emitido varias normas para impulsar su uso. El objetivo de este artículo es discutir el rol de la telesalud, y la evolución del marco normativo en el Perú. Asimismo, se describen las iniciativas desarrolladas e implementadas por el Colegio Médico del Perú con respecto a la aplicación de las TIC en salud en el marco del COVID-19 como la herramienta «Observatorio CMP¼ y las plataformas tecnológicas «Aló CMP¼ y «Salud a un Clic¼. Finalmente, el artículo plantea el análisis de algunos desafíos de las TIC en salud en tiempos de COVID-19. ABSTRACT Information and communication technologies (ICT) in health play a fundamental role in the management of COVID-19. This pandemic has rediscovered telehealth and has accelerated the use of digital platforms with health-oriented services. Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peruvian Government has issued several regulations aiming to promote its use. The objective of this paper is to discuss the role of telehealth, and the evolution of its regulatory framework in Peru. Likewise, the initiatives developed and implemented by the Peruvian College of Physicians (PCP) regarding ICT use for healthcare within the framework of COVID-19 are described, such as "Observatorio CMP" (PCP Observatory), and the technological platforms: "Alo CMP" (Hello PCP) and "Salud a un Clic" (Health in a Click). Finally, the paper analyzes some current challenges for ICT in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The role of telehealth in the fight against COVID-19 and the evolution of the Peruvian regulatory framework

RESUMEN Las tecnologías de información y comunicación (TIC) en salud cumplen un rol fundamental en el manejo de la pandemia por COVID-19. Esta pandemia ha permitido redescubrir la telesalud y ha acelerado el uso de plataformas digitales con servicios aplicados a la salud. En el marco de la pandemia del COVID-19, el Poder Ejecutivo ha emitido varias normas para impulsar su uso. El objetivo de este artículo es discutir el rol de la telesalud, y la evolución del marco normativo en el Perú. Asimismo, se describen las iniciativas desarrolladas e implementadas por el Colegio Médico del Perú con respecto a la aplicación de las TIC en salud en el marco del COVID-19 como la herramienta «Observatorio CMP¼ y las plataformas tecnológicas «Aló CMP¼ y «Salud a un Clic¼. Finalmente, el artículo plantea el análisis de algunos desafíos de las TIC en salud en tiempos de COVID-19. ABSTRACT Information and communication technologies (ICT) in health play a fundamental role in the management of COVID-19. This pandemic has rediscovered telehealth and has accelerated the use of digital platforms with health-oriented services. Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peruvian Government has issued several regulations aiming to promote its use. The objective of this paper is to discuss the role of telehealth, and the evolution of its regulatory framework in Peru. Likewise, the initiatives developed and implemented by the Peruvian College of Physicians (PCP) regarding ICT use for healthcare within the framework of COVID-19 are described, such as "Observatorio CMP" (PCP Observatory), and the technological platforms: "Alo CMP" (Hello PCP) and "Salud a un Clic" (Health in a Click). Finally, the paper analyzes some current challenges for ICT in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perception of exaggeration or fear propagated by the media among the Peruvian population during the COVID-19 pandemic

RESUMEN Introducción: En crisis sanitarias mundiales los medios de comunicación son importantes para informar sobre los temas relevantes a la población. Objetivo: Caracterizar y encontrar asociaciones de la percepción de miedo o exageración que transmiten los medios de comunicación en la pandemia del COVID-19 en ciudades del Perú. Métodos: Estudio transversal analítico y multicéntrico. Se realizó una encuesta virtual a 4009 personas, en 17 ciudades del Perú, del 15-20 de marzo del 2020. El instrumento, previamente validado, evaluó tres factores: la exageración de los medios;el miedo generado y la comunicación que provenía del personal de salud, familiares y amigos. Los coeficientes de relación y los valores p fueron calculados a través del uso de modelos lineales generalizados, con familia Gaussian y función de enlace identity. Se consideraron a los valores de p <0,05 como estadísticamente significativos. Resultados: Los participantes percibieron que las redes sociales (64 %) y la televisión (57 %) exageraban la información;también, los participantes manifestaron que la televisión (43 %) y las redes sociales (41 %) aumentaron la percepción del miedo. En cuanto a su familia/amigos, percibían que exageraban la situación (39 %) y generaban miedo (25 %). Al análisis multivariado, las mujeres (p<0,001), las que tuvieron secundaria completa (p=0,023), las universitarias (p=0,037) y con postgrado (p=0,002) tuvieron un menor puntaje total de miedo y percepción de exageración. Conclusiones: La percepción de exageración y generación de miedo en la población fueron en mayor medida ocasionados por la televisión y las redes sociales. ABSTRACT Introduction: In global health crises the media is important for reporting on important issues to the population. Objective: To characterize and find associations of perceived fear or exaggeration conveyed by the media in the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Analytical and multicenter cross-sectional study. A virtual survey was conducted among 4009 people, in 17 cities of Peru, from March 15-20, 2020. The instrument, previously validated, evaluated three factors: the exaggeration of the media;the fear generated and the communication coming from health personnel, family members and friends. Relationship coefficients and p-values were calculated through the use of generalized linear models, with Gaussian family and identity linkage function. Values of p <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Social networks (64%) and television (57%) were perceived by all participants as exaggerating information;also, television (43%) and social networks (41%) increased the perception of fear. As for their family/friends, they perceived that they exaggerated the situation (39%) and generated fear (25%). In the multivariate analysis, women (p<0.001), those who had completed high school (p=0.023), were university students (p=0.037) and those with a postgraduate degree (p=0.002) had a lower total score of fear and perception of exaggeration. Conclusions: The perception of exaggeration and fear generation in the population were mostly caused by television and social networks.

The Peru Approach against the COVID-19 Infodemic: Insights and Strategies.

The COVID-19 epidemic has spawned an "infodemic," with excessive and unfounded information that hinders an appropriate public health response. This perspective describes a selection of COVID-19 fake news that originated in Peru and the government's response to this information. Unlike other countries, Peru was relatively successful in controlling the infodemic possibly because of the implementation of prison sentences for persons who created and shared fake news. We believe that similar actions by other countries in collaboration with social media companies may offer a solution to the infodemic problem.