Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The COVID-19 health emergency prompted the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) in health systems. Concepts such as telehealth and telemedicine began to gain greater relevance. Therefore, the article objective is to describe the importance of telehealth in Colombia, the value and relevance it has acquired during the COVID-19 situation and to contrast it with similar experiences in different countries. For this purpose, a narrative review of the literature was carried out, using the terms (DeCs/MeSH) "telemedicine", "Colombia", "COVID-19", "Information Technology", "eHealth Strategies", in the medical databases PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and SciELO. Thirty-four documents corresponding to the period 2010-2020 were selected. From them, a narrative synthesis was produced, organized in four categories: telehealth basic concepts, telehealth in Colombia, telehealth in Colombia during COVID-19 and international telehealth experiences. Telehealth already occupied an important field in medical assistance on an international level; with health emergency, the systems were improved and their coverage expanded. In Colombia, telehealth has been regulated since 2007 and the pandemic provided an opportunity to modify existing legislation and include new services to respond to the situation. In conclusion, facing a high risk of contagion, Colombia adjusted its public policies to ensure continuity in the provision of health services and guarantee access to healthcare by reducing the risks of face-to-face healthcare.

The granting of dental appointments to requesting patients is often a problem when automated tools are not available to reduce the time of completion and optimize the process. The objective of this work was to develop a tool for optimal appointment scheduling and patient registration in dental clinics. A technological innovation study was carried out in the "Ana Betancourt" stomatological clinic of the Playa municipality in Havana, Cuba. The ethical norms established for the type of research involving participants were complied with. For the development of the tool, Internet connection, computer and Microsoft Excel® 2021 program were available. The phases of the incremental system for the development of computer tools were followed: analysis, design, coding, testing and maintenance. The application and its respective versions are available in the Zenodo repository. An operational scheme of interaction between the patient and the operator was established. Following the steps for the development of the digital tool, five spreadsheets were created with two work environments, one for the registration of patients and the other for the granting of appointments. The average time for general registration and patient appointments, using the tool, was 2.75 and 1.03 respectively. In contrast, when using the traditional method, in both cases, it was 5.31 and 3.15, respectively. The proposed tool provides improvements in the monitoring of appointments and patient registration, combining the reduction of time in the processes and the saving of resources.

Certain patterns of periodization of the Historiography of Information Science were examined. Using the documentary review as a methodological instrument, this study reviewed the sources of information containing the historiographical production of the chosen Information Science scholars. The interrelation between History and Historiography was discussed and the meaning of historical periodization was valued. The historical problems of Information Science were examined, and the periodization proposals of the selected authors were detailed. The proposal of periodization of the author of this text was substantiated.  

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo analizar el comportamiento de la producción científica acerca de la toxicología en las revistas científicas cubanas. Para ello se realizó un estudio bibliométrico que utiliza como metodología el análisis de los indicadores de producción, visibilidad y colaboración (período, revistas, instituciones con mayores publicaciones, autores más citados y tipo de estudio de toxicidad que prevaleció). Se seleccionó el período de 1971 a 2020 y como base de datos Scopus. Se emplearon estrategias de búsqueda, a partir de los siguientes términos: toxicity, toxicological studies, safety, toxicidad, estudios toxicológicos y seguridad. La consulta fue refinada para el país Cuba, período seleccionado, tipo de publicación y revistas cubanas. De cada artículo se extrajo la siguiente información: autores, título, número de citas, idioma, revistas, afiliación y resumen. Toda la información quedó almacenada en una base de datos diseñada para su procesamiento. Se considera que la producción científica sobre temas toxicológicos en las revistas científicas cubanas fue baja, en relación con otras temáticas, con un total de 104 publicaciones. La mayor productividad se observó en el período 2001-2020 con una tendencia al incremento. Las revistas con mayor aporte a la producción científica fueron la “Revista Cubana de Plantas Medicinales”, la “Revista Cubana de Farmacia” y la revista “Biotecnología Aplicada” con 36, 22 y 13 artículos, respectivamente. Las publicaciones relacionadas con los estudios toxicológicos in vivo predominaron con un 47 %. Los resultados revelaron la necesidad de estimular el incremento y la aceptación de las publicaciones de corte toxicológico por parte de las editoriales de las revistas cubanas, dado el potencial científico humano y la infraestructura actual existente en los centros de investigación e instituciones de salud.

La pandemia de COVID-19 ha generado una crisis sanitaria mundial; la salud mental ha sido de las más afectadas. El objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar la relación entre el número de casos nuevos y muertes diarias por COVID-19, y las tendencias de búsqueda en Internet sobre preocupaciones de salud mental en Latinoamérica. Se utilizó Google Trends para determinar el volumen relativo de búsquedas. Respecto al número de casos nuevos y muertes diarias, las cifras se obtuvieron del tablero de la enfermedad por coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) de la Organización Mundial de la Salud. El período de evaluación fue del 01/12/2019 al 31/01/2021. Para obtener la correlación entre variables cuantitativas, se utilizó el coeficiente de correlación de Pearson con un nivel de significancia p < 0,05. Los términos más buscados en los países seleccionados fueron: «ansiedad» y «desempleo». El análisis de correlación evidenció que el volumen relativo de búsqueda de los términos evaluados presentaba una correlación de leve a moderada entre el número de casos confirmados y muertes diarios por COVID-19. Se encontró una correlación de leve a moderada entre el volumen relativo de búsqueda de los términos evaluados y el número de casos confirmados y muertes por día debido a la COVID-19.

Undergraduate scientific research can start with publications by students. These can be in the form of Letters to the Editor, as they develop skills in scientific writing and encourage the future proposal of independent projects. The present study aims to determine the association between medical students' membership in extracurricular scientific-academic groups and the publication of Letters to the Editor. A cross-sectional study of secondary data analysis was carried out in medical students from 40 Latin American schools. The publication of Letters to the Editor was the outcome variable, defined as self-report when asked if they had published a letter as part of their non-academic activities. Simple and multiple regression analyses were performed using multilevel random effect models. Of the 11,587 respondents, 40.9% were affiliated with study groups and 1.6% reported having published a Letter to the Editor. In the simple regression, all three types of scientific-academic groups were associated (p < 0.001). In the multiple regression, the association was maintained only in students affiliated with scientific societies (prevalence ratio = 2.71) and study groups (prevalence ratio = 2.43). In conclusion, affiliation to a student scientific society, study groups and more than one scientific-academic group was associated with a higher frequency of publication of Letters to the Editor.

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and other areas of technological knowledge have played a transcendental role in confronting the current contingency, which is why this letter was drafted, with the aim of exemplifying the use of ICTs and other technologies in the Cuban context of the struggle against the pandemic.

El presente trabajo tuvo por objetivo elaborar una estrategia para la implementación de un modelo didáctico para la enseñanza-aprendizaje del diseño de software mediante el método de proyectos, entre los contenidos de la asignatura Ingeniería y Gestión de Software de la carrera Sistemas de Información en Salud. Se adoptó un enfoque dialéctico –asumido también como base filosófica–, a partir del cual se emplearon métodos y procedimientos teóricos, empíricos y matemático-estadísticos. Atendiendo a las bases teóricas y principios previamente definidos, se elaboró una estrategia didáctica estructurada en seis acciones encaminadas a la preparación de profesores y directivos para el desarrollo de la virtualidad y la investigación. La propuesta se concretó a través de acciones específicas, dirigidas al perfeccionamiento del proceso de formación en diseño de software mediante proyecto, para la solución de problemas profesionales de los estudiantes de la carrera que se investiga.

Focused on the field of hypermedia journalism due to its possibilities of monitoring through teleworking, and because of the emphasis that the country is placing on the increasing use of ICTs, a team of researchers with diverse profiles, with representation in all regions of Cuba, identified 35 experiences of hypermedia journalism published in the Cuban public media until June 5th, 2020. From this sample, 20 proposals were selected using the nominal group technique in virtual variant, to which a more detailed analysis was carried out, based on 13 criteria identified among the international recommendations for dealing with the pandemic in the press. Both the analysis of the sample, as well as a discussion forum held with journalists from all over the archipelago from the publication of the report resulting from this research, yielded interesting guidelines about the positive communicative practices detected, potentially applicable in the productive dynamics of Cuban public media.

The phenomenon called infodemia refers to the increase in the volume of information on a specific topic, which multiplies rapidly in a short period of time, and has stood out in the context of the health crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Too much information can trigger feelings of fear, anxiety, stress, and other conditions of mental distress. The study aims to describe the profile of exposure to information about COVID-19 and its repercussions on the mental health of elderly Brazilians. This is a cross-sectional study carried out with 1924 elderly Brazilians. Data were collected through a web-based survey sent to the elderly via social networks and email, from July to October 2020. The results of the descriptive analysis of the data show that most of the elderly were aged between 60 and 69 years (69.02%), female (71.26%), married (53.79%) and white (75.57%). About 21.67% (n = 417) concluded their graduation, 19.75% (380) concluded their specialization and 16.63% (320) concluded their master's or doctoral degrees. Television 862 (44.80%) and social networks 651 (33.84%) were reported as frequent sources of exposure to news or information about COVID-19. Participants indicated that television (46.47%; n = 872), social networks (30.81%; n = 575) and radio (14.48%; 251) affected them psychologically and/or physically. Receiving fake news about COVID-19 on television (n = 482; 19.8%) and on social media (n = 415; 21.5%) mainly resulted in stress and fear. The disseminated information contributes to awareness, but also affects physically and/or psychologically many elderly people, mainly generating fear and stress.