ICT Health 2022: 33% of doctors and 26% of nurses in the country attended patients via teleconsultation

Survey by CGI.br found growth in access to patient data in digital format, but less than half of professionals underwent training on information security

Recently regulated, teleconsultation was used to attend patients by 33% of doctors and 26% of nurses in the country, an unprecedented result obtained in the TIC Health 2022 released this Monday (5) by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br). The survey, conducted by the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) from the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br), also shows an increase in the use of technologies by health professionals compared to the scenario prior to the pandemic.

One of these advances was regarding access to electronically available patient data. For nurses, there was a greater increase in nursing notes (from 52% in 2019 to 81% in 2022); patient history and clinical notes (from 62% to 85%) and radiological examination images (from 42% to 65%). For doctors, the largest increases were in the availability of the list of medications prescribed to the patient (74% in 2019 to 85% in 2022); the main reasons that led the patient to the appointment (from 77% to 85%) and nursing notes (69% to 79%).

"With the greater adoption of electronic systems by healthcare facilities, we observed in 2022 that professionals started to have more access to patient data in electronic format, which can positively impact healthcare assistance," comments Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br|NIC.br.

Remote Monitoring
The survey also noted an advance in the use of telehealth, which includes a series of health services provided remotely through information and communication technologies. Remote monitoring of patients, for example, which was performed by 16% of nurses in 2019, started being used by 29% of them in 2022. For doctors, the practice went from 9% to 23% in the same period.

Also in the comparison between 2019 and 2022, the teleconsultation service (contact between professionals in the field to clarify doubts) increased from 26% to 34% for nurses, and from 26% to 45% for doctors.

Digital Prescription
Electronic medical prescriptions have been conducted by 68% of these professionals, and 21% both via computer and manually. However, the method of signing prescriptions remains mostly manual (71%). Regarding nursing prescriptions – an item included for the first time in TIC Health – 51% of nurses already conduct them by computer, 27% both on the computer and manually, and 68% of those who make electronic prescriptions sign them manually.

Infrastructure
The data from the 9th edition of TIC Health indicate a continuing expansion in the use of computers and the Internet as observed in recent years, especially in areas that previously had greater disparities, such as public health facilities and those located in the Northeast region of Brazil.

In 2022, 97% of public facilities already have computers (94% in 2021). In facilities in the Northeast, 97% also have computers and available Internet, compared to 92% and 91% in 2021, respectively.

The Basic Health Units recorded an increase in both computer use (rising from 94% in 2021 to 97% in 2022) and Internet access (92% to 97% in 2022). This means that in a universe of 43,000 BHU, only 1,300 did not have these two technological resources.

Information Security and LGPD
The percentage of healthcare facilities with a defined information security policy increased from 30% in 2021 to 39% in 2022. However, some segments showed more significant advances, such as private facilities – half of them have a policy on the subject, while in public ones the percentage is 25%. Other highlights are healthcare facilities with more than 50 inpatient beds (64%) and those offering diagnostic and therapy support services (56%).

For professionals, more than 60% of those working in private facilities underwent some training on information security – another unprecedented indicator of the survey. In public facilities, this proportion is less than 15%. Additionally, professionals in facilities with inpatient care and more than 50 beds (33% of nurses and 68% of doctors) had the most access to courses or training on the subject, especially compared to professionals at BHUs (13% of nurses and 7% of doctors).

"These results highlight the need for greater attention and investment from healthcare facilities regarding information security, especially in a context of expanding access to patient data in digital format," Barbosa points out.

Another point investigated by the survey was the actions adopted by facilities related to the General Data Protection Law (LGPD). TIC Health 2022 showed that 41% of them promoted internal awareness campaigns about the legislation, an increase of nine percentage points compared to 2021, when 32% were recorded.

A disparity was also observed between public and private establishments in terms of measures adopted. Among those investigated, the most frequent practice was promoting internal awareness campaigns about the LGPD (56% of private and 25% of public), followed by appointing a data protection officer (47% of private and 17% of public) and implementing a data security incident response plan (43% of private and 17% of public).

The availability of service and interaction channels with data subjects decreased from 2021 to 2022, dropping from 38% to 26% of healthcare facilities. There is also a significant difference in offering this channel between private (35%) and public (17%) facilities.

New Technologies
The ICT Health survey also investigates the use of new technologies by healthcare facilities. Big Data analysis remains a resource used by a limited number of healthcare facilities. In a universe of 120,000 facilities investigated by the survey, about 7,600 use this resource, of which about 5,700 are private facilities. The main source of information is data from the establishments themselves, including registration forms and health records (76%) and data from intelligent devices and sensors (74%).

Artificial Intelligence is used by about 3,500 healthcare facilities and is more present in private establishments (around 3,200), while robotics is used by about 4,700 (about 3,300 of these are private). 

About the Survey
Conducted since 2013, the survey aims to investigate the penetration of ICT in healthcare establishments and its adoption by health professionals, and has institutional support from international organizations like the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Additionally, the survey is supported by the Ministry of Health and the Department of Informatics of the SUS (Datasus), the National Health Agency (ANS), the Brazilian Company of Hospital Services (EBSERH), the National Council of Health Secretaries (CONASS), the National Council of Municipal Health Secretariats (CONASEMS), and the Brazilian Health Informatics Society (SBIS), as well as experts from major universities and research institutions.

In this 9th edition, interviews took place between April and October 2022 with 2,127 managers of healthcare establishments located throughout the national territory. The survey also interviewed 1,942 health professionals.

To check the full list of indicators, visit: https://cetic.br/pt/pesquisa/saude/indicadores/.

About Cetic.br
The Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br), from NIC.br, is responsible for producing indicators and statistics on Internet access and usage in Brazil, providing periodic analyses and information on the network's development in the country. Cetic.br|NIC.br is also a Regional Center for Studies under the auspices of UNESCO, and completed 17 years of activity in 2022. More information is available at https://cetic.br/.

About the Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br
The Brazilian Network Information Center — NIC.br (https://nic.br/) is a private, non-profit civil entity responsible for operating the .br domain, as well as distributing IP numbers and registering Autonomous Systems in the country. NIC.br implements the decisions and projects of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee - CGI.br since 2005, and all funds raised come from its activities, which are of a predominantly private nature. It conducts actions and projects that bring benefits to the Internet infrastructure in Brazil. NIC.br includes:  Registro.br (https://registro.br), CERT.br (https://cert.br/), Ceptro.br (https://ceptro.br/), Cetic.br (https://cetic.br/), IX.br (https://ix.br/) and Ceweb.br (https://ceweb.br/), in addition to projects like Internetsegura.br (https://internetsegura.br) and the Best Internet Practices Portal in Brazil (https://bcp.nic.br/). It also hosts the W3C Chapter São Paulo office (https://w3c.br/).

About the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br
The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, responsible for establishing strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in Brazil, coordinates and integrates all Internet service initiatives in the country, promoting technical quality, innovation, and dissemination of services offered. Based on the principles of multistakeholderism and transparency, CGI.br represents a democratic Internet governance model, internationally praised, where all sectors of society equally participate in its decisions. One of its formulations is the 10 Principles for Internet Governance and Use (https://cgi.br/resolucoes/documento/2009/003). More information is available at https://cgi.br/.

Press Contacts – NIC.br:

Weber Shandwick
https://webershandwick.com.br/
PABX: (11) 3027-0200 / 3531-4950
Ana Nascimento - anascimento@webershandwick.com - (11) 98670-6579 

Communication Department – NIC.br
Carolina Carvalho - Communication Manager - carolcarvalho@nic.br
Soraia Marino - Communication Coordinator - soraia@nic.br 

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