Role of Digital Health Interventions in Mitigating Mental Health Challenges Among Rural Healthcare Workers: Impact on Patient Care Quality

Abstract

The rural health care providers are experiencing high levels of burnout as a result of the lack of staffing, being spread out over a large geographical area and the overwhelming number of patients they have to care for every day. Digital health treatments have been shown to improve quality of care outcomes for both patients and providers.  Goal: The goal of this study was to look at the effect of digital health interventions on patient care quality and mental health outcomes for rural healthcare providers in the district of Uttarakhand, India.  Method: A mixed-methods pre-post intervention study was conducted with 150 subjects in 12 different healthcare facilities. The digital health interventions that were used were AI based triage tools, telemedicine services (e-Sanjeevani) and remote patient monitoring services. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis, while quantitative data was analyzed using paired t-tests and linear mixed models. The STROBE reporting guidelines were followed for this study.  Results: There were significant improvements in all primary outcome measures. There was a 22% decrease in medication errors (p=0.03), a 45% decrease in average wait times (p<0.001), a 15% increase in patient satisfaction (p<0.01), and a 28% decrease in burnout (p<0.01) for provider participants. Qualitative findings showed participants experienced an increase in clinical confidence, improved work-life balance and reduced feelings of professional isolation.  Conclusion: Digital health interventions can provide a significant improvement in both patient care quality and mental health outcomes of rural healthcare providers. Digital health interventions should be scaled up and incorporated into National programs such as the National Digital