ISQua's 39th International Conference 2023

A Critical Interpretive Synthesis of the Unintended Consequences of Telehealth in Australia: International Applications to Low-, Middle- and High-income Countries

Sagda Osman1, Kate Churruca1, Louise A. Ellis1, Dan Luo1, Jeffrey Braithwaite1,2

1Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Australia, 2NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability, Australia.

Background

•Telehealth can be a viable solution to address healthcare accessibility issues faced by underserved communities.

•When telehealth is introduced to the healthcare system, it interacts with other agents in the system which could lead to outcomes/consequences other than those initially planned.1

•There is no published review that covers the unintended consequences of telehealth in Australia in terms of both positive and negative unplanned outcomes.

•We used a Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS)2 due to its exploratory nature and flexibility in including diverse types of studies such as studies that don't focus on unintended consequences of telehealth directly nor ostensibly but could still be informing, nonetheless.

Objective

To synthesise evidence on telehealth unintended consequences in Australia, not only on a micro and meso level, but also on a macro or national policy level.

Methods

•Databases: Ovid Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and Scopus.

•No date limit.

•Country: Australia.

•Settings: Multiple.

•Inclusion criteria: Empirical qualitative or mixed-methods studies evaluating synchronous or hybrid telehealth and/or its unintended consequences, and quantitative studies focusing solely on unintended consequences.

•Search was carried out in Nov 2022.

No systematic appraisal was conducted to ensure no studies were excluded that may contain relevant information. As common in CIS, studies were appraised according to relevancy based on the assessment of the first author

ISQua's 39th International Conference 2023

A CRITICAL INTERPRETIVE SYNTHESIS OF THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF TELEHEALTH IN AUSTRALIA: INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS TO LOW-, MIDDLE- AND HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES

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