Application of Information Technology Models, Approaches and Tools in Covid-19 Management: Rapid Review

• Main Authors: Zeinab Mohammadzadeh, Elham Maserat, Reza Kariminezhad
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Tabriz University of Medical Sciences 2021-03-01
• Series: Taṣvīr-i salāmat
• Subjects: covid-19; health information technology; rapid review
• Online Access: https://doh.tbzmed.ac.ir/PDF/doh-12-77.pdf

Background & Aims: Simultaneously with Covid-19 epidemic, much research has been done about to facilitate and expedite the diagnosis of disease, to establish vaccines and possible treatments, and to understand the socio-economic effects of this disease. New technologies such as telemedicine, ehealth, virtual reality, expert systems and artificial intelligence are very important in the progress and success of medical sciences. The experience of similar diseases such as MERS and SARS has confirmed the usefulness of information technology in management of infectious diseases and epidemics. The purpose of this study is to review the applications of information technology in Covid-19 management. Material & Methods: The present study is a five-step scoping review based on the proposed Arksey and O'Malley framework. a) Identifying the research objectives and search strategy b) Identifying relevant articles c) study selection d) data extraction and e) Summarizing, discussing, analyzing and reporting of results. Results: The 24 articles were selected for data extraction from 6,297 articles. The present study is the most complete study of technologies used in the field of Covid-19 management. Most studies (58%) have shown the ability of artificial intelligence to detect patients with Covid-19 and identify lesions using CT images. Other studies have confirmed the effectiveness of telemedicine systems, electronic health records, expert systems and monitoring systems to reduce contact, rapid screening and proper disease management & control. Also, 46% of related studies have been conducted in China. Conclusion: Due to high spreading capacity of the Covid-19, the use of telemedicine technologies has been more tangible in order to maintain social distance. Also, because of similarity of Covid-19 symptoms with other respiratory diseases, artificial intelligence applied to rapid screening and and diagnosis. The results of our study confirmed more application of these two systems. The results have proven the effectiveness of technology in quick patients identification, self-quarantine, diagnosis and monitoring of disease.