An OECD study also indicates that just over half (53%) of people with chronic diseases in Portugal are managed in primary health care units that claim to be well prepared to coordinate care.
Portugal has strengths in the adoption of electronic medical records, but has challenges to overcome in support of chronic patients and coordination of care, according to a study presented this Thursday in Lisbon.
The data from the largest international inquiry applied to health services users show that a people -centered approach that gives priority to strong patient involvement and effective care coordination is associated with better health results and patient experiences.
Although primary health care units in Portugal show digital tool availability to support the health care of patients, these “They need more support to benefit from these tools“, considers the OECD.
Only 49% receive sufficient support
Just under half (49%) of people with chronic diseases in Portugal receive sufficient support to manage their own health, significantly below the OECD average (63%).
Portugal has a low level of digital health literacywith 12% of people with chronic diseases to declare themselves confident in the use of health information from the Internet, an equally less than the OECD average (19%).
Paris also indicates that just over half (53%) of people with chronic diseases in Portugal are managed in primary health units that claim to be well prepared to coordinate care compared to an average of 56% of the OECD.
Despite increasing the use of health technologies after pandemic, Paris also shows that the potential of digital technologies is not being fully used in primary health care, as only 7% of chronic patients reported using teleconsultation and only 17 % accessed online medical records.
Confidence levels below the OECD average
The report also speaks of differences in well-being and trust in health systems among gender, both lower indicators in the case of women.
In Portugal, 57% of men trust the health system compared to 51% of women. These confidence levels are far below the OECD average for both men (67%) and women (58%).
Paris, which covered more than 100,000 users in 1,800 primary health care units in 19 countries, reveals the experiences of people over 45 in health centers, including those living with chronic diseases such as hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, diabetes heart disease and cancer.
In Portugal more than 12,000 users of 91 health centers were inquired.
