Factors That Influence Digital Health Implementation in Rural, Regional, and Remote Australia: An Overview of Reviews and Recommended Strategies.
Michelle A Krahe, Stephanie Baker, Leeanna Woods and 1 others
PMID 40202368WHAT IT FOUND
Rural Australian telehealth implementation faced many barriers, including poor connectivity, workflow mismatch, staff turnover and unclear policy.
Reviews also found enablers such as local champions, patient and family engagement, and culturally sensitive services.
Key findings
01Only three reviews met inclusion criteria, and all three were rated critically low for methodological reporting quality.
02Factors were mapped across five CFIR domains, with 16 constructs as barriers and 12 as enablers; the inner setting had the greatest number.
03Level 1 expert-endorsed strategies included local needs assessment, identifying champions, altering incentives, involving patients and family, creating an implementation blueprint, obtaining feedback, and accessing new funding.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only three reviews met the inclusion criteria, so the synthesis is narrow. All included reviews were rated critically low for methodological reporting quality. The included reviews were published in 2014 and 2016, before the pandemic digital transformation. The reviews focused mainly on telehealth, not the wider range of digital health technologies. The included reviews did not extensively detail health outcomes. The recommended strategies are expert-endorsed matches to barriers, not tested interventions. Grey literature was not searched.
Declared interests
Funding came from the Department of Education, Australian Government. Author Leeanna Woods disclosed being a guest editor for this special issue. The authors declared no other conflicts.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these strategies as proven to improve care. They are expert-endorsed matches to barriers, not tested interventions, and the included reviews were rated critically low.