Telehealth strategies in the care of people with chronic kidney disease: integrative review.
Onislene Alves Evangelista de Almeida, Maria Eduarda Freitas de Lima, Walterlânia Silva Santos and 1 others
PMID 38055586WHAT IT FOUND
Telehealth strategies like remote monitoring and phone calls are feasible for chronic kidney disease patients, including those on dialysis.
They improved self-care, reduced hospitalizations, and cut costs without worsening outcomes compared to face-to-face care.
Key findings
01Telehealth interventions for chronic kidney disease were feasible and often improved clinical outcomes like self-care and reduced hospitalizations.
02Nurses were the primary professionals delivering telephone contact and teleconsultation strategies in the reviewed studies.
03No included study found telehealth strategies to be inferior to traditional care or unacceptable to patients.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review could not compare the effectiveness of different telehealth tools due to the wide variety of study designs and outcomes. Most studies came from high-income countries (USA, Europe), limiting applicability to low-resource settings. Some included studies had low levels of evidence (descriptive or cross-sectional designs). There is a lack of research specifically involving renal transplant patients.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume telehealth replaces all face-to-face care or that it works equally well for every patient. The review highlights that while feasible, evidence for long-term clinical effectiveness is still developing, and access barriers in low-resource settings remain significant.