Healthcare Innovations to Address the Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Resilience perspective on healthcare professionals' adaptations to changes and challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic: a meta-synthesis

OBJECTIVE

To identify, review and synthesise qualitative literature on healthcare professionals' adaptations to changes and challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

DESIGN

Systematic review with meta-synthesis.

DATA SOURCES

Academic Search Elite, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Qualitative or mixed-methods studies published between 2019 and 2021 investigating healthcare professionals' adaptations to changes and challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

Data were extracted using a predesigned data extraction form that included details about publication (eg, authors, setting, participants, adaptations and outcomes). Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Forty-seven studies were included. A range of adaptations crucial to maintaining healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic were found, including taking on new roles, conducting self and peer education and reorganising workspaces. Triggers for adaptations included unclear workflows, lack of guidelines, increased workload and transition to digital solutions. As challenges arose, many health professionals reported increased collaboration across wards, healthcare teams, hierarchies and healthcare services.

CONCLUSION

Healthcare professionals demonstrated significant adaptive capacity when faced with challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several adaptations were identified as beneficial for future organisational healthcare service changes, while others exposed weaknesses in healthcare system designs and capacity, leading to dysfunctional adaptations. Healthcare professionals' experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic present a unique opportunity to learn how healthcare systems rapidly respond to changes, and how resilient healthcare services can be built globally.

E-Adoption of Emerging Technology in the Health Sector During COVID-19

In the 21st century, COVID-19 made a profound impact on the world. This pandemic had a detrimental impact worldwide, causing massive economic damage and enormous mortality. Emerging technologies play an essential role in every sector, and the health sector is not exceptional in this line. This paper examines the health sector before, during, and after the COVID-19 era by taking a view of emerging technologies. Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, IoT, learning paradigms, blockchain, and others are emerging technologies. E-adoption of these technologies becomes important to face critical situations during COVID-19. Using these technologies, it is possible to care for and monitor remote patients by keeping medical record management. This study includes a brief examination of similar work. In addition, the impact of e-adoption on health sector is discussed in this research. Furthermore, this study suggested a paradigm for comprehending the application of developing technologies to manage and overcome the health sector's burden. Finally, research is concluded with remarks on the future.