Highlights:
Background
Primary care assumes a vital responsibility in providing exceptional healthcare that is easily accessible and economically viable for an increasingly aging population burdened with multiple chronic ailments and intricate health challenges. To effectively tackle these obstacles, it is advisable for primary care practitioners to embrace innovative practices, particularly those pertaining to e-health. By leveraging e-health applications, primary care can potentially surmount the challenges encountered when delivering care to individuals with complex medical and psychosocial needs. Nonetheless, numerous unresolved inquiries persist regarding the cost-effectiveness, integration into the healthcare system, and the acceptance of e-health initiatives by healthcare professionals
Definiton of e-Health
Beyond WHO’s provision of e-health, health services, and health surveillance, the term encompasses the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate healthcare support, health literature, information dissemination, and research for health education. Telehealth encompasses a range of interventions, including telemedicine, mobile health (mHealth), electronic medical records (eMR/eHR), big data management for health, wearable devices, and even the application of artificial intelligence.
Substantial evidence demonstrates the expanding impact of e-health on healthcare delivery worldwide, leading to enhanced efficiency and responsiveness of health systems to address people’s needs and expectations1 . It is widely acknowledged that e-health applications can play a pivotal role in achieving overarching global health objectives, such as Universal Health Inclusion and the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals
Benefits of e-Health
E-health initiatives are anticipated to yield numerous direct and indirect advantages for individual and public health. The implementation of e-health services has revealed three potential benefits: