Sunday, February 9, 2025

Scope of Digital Health Technology in Rural Primary Care: A Systematic Review

Similar articles

Digital technology is increasingly revolutionizing primary healthcare services, aiming to enhance service delivery and health outcomes. However, the potential for digital innovation within primary care services, particularly in rural areas, remains largely unexplored. This systematic review seeks to consolidate existing research on the utilization and integration of digital health technology within primary care services catering to rural populations globally.

This review will employ a systematic search strategy across relevant medical and healthcare databases, focusing on publications from January 2013 to December 2023. The search will utilize specific inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure relevance and precision. Data extraction and study selection will be carried out systematically using standardized templates, and outcomes will be reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Additionally, the quality and bias of the studies will be assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.

Subscribe Weekly Market Access News

* indicates required

Methodology and Search Strategy

A comprehensive and systematic approach will be adopted for the search strategy, encompassing relevant electronic databases with a focus on medical and healthcare literature. Key search terms will be employed to identify pertinent studies published between January 2013 and December 2023. This rigorous methodology will ensure the inclusion of studies that meet predefined criteria, facilitating a robust synthesis of data on digital health technology in rural primary care settings.

The study selection and data extraction processes will adhere to standardized templates, ensuring consistency and reliability. The outcomes will be systematically reported in alignment with the PRISMA guidelines, providing a transparent and replicable framework for future research. The quality assessment and risk of bias will be meticulously evaluated using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, ensuring the credibility and validity of the findings.

Ethics and Dissemination

Ethical approval is not necessary for this review as it does not involve the collection or analysis of individual patient data. The findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations, contributing valuable insights to the field of digital health. This dissemination strategy aims to inform and influence both practice and policy, addressing existing knowledge gaps and suggesting avenues for future research and innovation.

The results of this systematic review will provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of digital health technology integration in rural primary care settings. It will also highlight gaps in the existing research, offering evidence-based recommendations for enhancing digital healthcare services in these underserved areas.

Key Insights and Recommendations

– Identify effective digital health technologies currently utilized in rural primary care.
– Highlight barriers and facilitators to the adoption of digital innovations in rural settings.
– Provide evidence-based recommendations for improving digital health integration in rural healthcare services.
– Suggest future research directions to address gaps in the current literature.

The anticipated outcomes of the review will not only deepen the understanding of digital health technology’s role in rural primary care but also guide future innovations and policy decisions aimed at optimizing healthcare delivery in these regions.

Original Article: BMJ Open. 2024 Jun 18;14(6):e083152. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083152.

You can follow our news on our Telegram, LinkedIn and Youtube accounts.


This article has been prepared with the assistance of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more details, please refer to our Terms and Conditions. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author.

Subscribe to our newsletter

To be updated with all the latest news, offers and special announcements.

Latest article