PrimCareIT

Report on the Literature Review - Abstract

This literature review is part of the theoretical background of the PrimCareIT project. It has the aim to create a basis for further research in the PrimCareIT project and to give an overview of the state of the art in the seven partner countries Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.

In each country the study coordinators carried out a literature review on the basis of a questionnaire to answer the different questions regarding the respective health care systems, definitions of primary health care, professional isolation and brain drain as well as the prevalence of teleconsultation and telementoring.

The review showed that the state of the art in the countries is still on different levels. There have been some kind of teleconsultations or telementoring solutions used in all countries. But especially topics such as the effects of teleconsultation and telementoring on the health care system or the weighting of factors leading to brain drain have not been considered in most of the countries.

Therefore the partners will in further research, by carrying out expert interviews among professionals in the seven countries as well as a focus group, concentrate on the further retrieval of information regarding the usage of teleconsultation and telementoring to counteract brain drain and professional isolation in the partner countries.

The target groups of this report are all project partners from work packages and general public interested in the project.

For more information, contact Prof Bosco Lehr, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany.

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