Telehealth in Brazil: an evaluation of the use of videoconferences for distance education in Belo Horizonte

Resumo

The Belo Horizonte City Health Department in Brazil uses videoconferences to stimulate interaction between health specialists and health professionals and would like to further expand the use of this telehealth application. For that reason it was interested to conduct an evaluation of the videoconferences at the Health Department and to search for possible improvements in the technology and/or communication aspects. To evaluate the effectiveness of the videoconferences, a qualitative study was conducted based on a comparison between scientific literature about videoconferences and the videoconference process in practice.
The data collection methods obtained information regarding the following subjects: success and failure factors and suggested improvements of various videoconference projects from the literature study, the videoconference process in practice as executed at the Health Department and the experiences of the users of the videoconferences in terms of participation, satisfaction with services and required changes.
Satisfaction among users is high and the videoconferences are effective, because they influence the knowledge, attitudes and actions of the health professionals in a way as is intended by the lecturers at the Health Department. However, the videoconference process will need some adaptations or improvements to be able to use it in a more effective way.