JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

A host of emergent technologies have the potential to improve hospital care in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) such as Vietnam. It has been suggested that wearable monitors and artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision support systems could be integrated with hospital-based digital health systems such as electronic health records (EHRs) to provide higher level care at relatively low cost. However, the appropriate and sustainable application of these innovations in LMICs requires an understanding of the local government’s requirements and regulations such as technology specifications, cybersecurity, data sharing, and interoperability.

Objective:

This scoping review aims to explore the current state of digital health research and the policies that govern adoption of digital health systems in Vietnamese hospitals.

Methods:

We conducted a scoping review using a modification of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. PubMed and Web of Science were searched for Academic publications, and thuvienphapluat.vn, a proprietary database of Vietnamese government documents, and the Vietnam Electronic Health Administration website, were searched for government documents. Google Scholar and Google Search were used for snowballing searches. The sources were assessed against a pre-defined eligibility criteria through title, abstract, and full text screening. Relevant information from the included sources was charted and summarized. The review steps were primarily undertaken by one researcher and subsequently reviewed by another researcher during each step.

Results:

11 academic publications and 20 government documents were included in this review. Among the academic studies, five reported engineering solutions for information systems in hospitals, two assessed readiness for EHR implementation, one tested physicians’ performance before and after using clinical decision support software, one reported a national laboratory information management system, and two reviewed the health system’s capability to implement eHealth and AI. Of the 20 government documents, 19 were promulgated in the period from 2013 to 2020. These regulations and guidance cover a wide range of digital health domains, including, hospital information management systems, general and interoperability standards, cybersecurity in health organizations, conditions for the provision of health information technology (HIT), electronic health insurance claims, laboratory information systems (LIS), HIT maturity, digital health strategies, EMRs, EHRs, and eHealth architectural framework.

Conclusions:

Research about hospital-based digital health systems in Vietnam is very limited with implementation studies particularly lacking. Government regulations and guidance for HIT in healthcare organizations have been released with increasing frequency since 2013, targeting a variety of information systems such as EMRs, EHRs, and LISs. In general, these policies were focused on the basic specifications and standards that the digital health systems need to meet. More research is needed in the future to guide the implementation of digital healthcare systems in the Vietnam hospital settings.