Information and Communication Technologies in Long-term and Palliative Care

Abstract

In the beginning of the 21st century we experienced a paradigm shift between the acute and infectious diseases to the chronic conditions, sustained by the aging of the population. Nevertheless, the education system for health professionals kept the traditional educational models. The main idea of the work here presented is to provide a literature review of the state of the art of information and communication technology (ICT) applied to Long-term and Palliative Care. We conducted an exhaustive investigation from Pubmed and Google Scholar using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms “information and communication technologies”, “e-Health”, “m-Health” and “long-term care”, “palliative care”. Currently, the existence of a critical mass of Internet users allows quickly diffusion of electronic communication in the medical practice, which translates as a new way to look at the doctor-patient relationship. It is important to define the various ways in which one can establish a doctor-patient communication, ensure the security and confidentiality of the information, create practical and "user friendly" interfaces that can be easily used by patients and ensure universal access to new technologies. Despite the existence of some literature on new information technologies applied to the health context, few papers trace the connection between these same information technologies and long-term and palliative care. We believe that the absence of literature on this theme relates to the emphasis of personal contact in such situations and the lack of quality records. More research is needed on this subject.