ReviewJMIR public health and surveillance2024
Assessing the Digital Advancement of Public Health Systems Using Indicators Published in Gray Literature: Narrative Review.
Review in JMIR public health and surveillance, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Regional Cultivation Forms ofJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Digital health equity among older adult(s): a conceptual analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- AI and algorithmic literacy among health workers: a scoping review through a digital health literacy lens.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- An equity-aware generative AI copilot for digital public health surveillance.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- From Theory to Practice: Viewpoint on Economic Indicators for Trust in Digital Health.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Considerations for adapting digital competencies and training approaches to the public health workforce: an interpretive description of practitioners' perspectives in Canada.BMC public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRevealing the full potential of digital public health (DiPH) systems requires a wide-ranging tool to assess their maturity and readiness for emerging technologies. Although a variety of indices exist to assess digital health systems, questions arise about the inclusion of indicators of information and communications technology maturity and readiness, digital (health) literacy, and interest in DiPH tools by the society and workforce, as well as the maturity of the legal framework and the readiness of digitalized health systems. Existing tools frequently target one of these domains while overlooking the others. In addition, no review has yet holistically investigated the available national DiPH system maturity and readiness indicators using a multidisciplinary lens.
objectiveWe used a narrative review to map the landscape of DiPH system maturity and readiness indicators published in the gray literature.
methodsAs original indicators were not published in scientific databases, we applied predefined search strings to the DuckDuckGo and Google search engines for 11 countries from all continents that had reached level 4 of 5 in the latest Global Digital Health Monitor evaluation. In addition, we searched the literature published by 19 international organizations for maturity and readiness indicators concerning DiPH.
resultsOf the 1484 identified references, 137 were included, and they yielded 15,806 indicators. We deemed 286 indicators from 90 references relevant for DiPH system maturity and readiness assessments. The majority of these indicators (133/286, 46.5%) had legal relevance (targeting big data and artificial intelligence regulation, cybersecurity, national DiPH strategies, or health data governance), and the smallest number of indicators (37/286, 12.9%) were related to social domains (focusing on internet use and access, digital literacy and digital health literacy, or the use of DiPH tools, smartphones, and computers). Another 14.3% (41/286) of indicators analyzed the information and communications technology infrastructure (such as workforce, electricity, internet, and smartphone availability or interoperability standards). The remaining 26.2% (75/286) of indicators described the degree to which DiPH was applied (including health data architecture, storage, and access; the implementation of DiPH interventions; or the existence of interventions promoting health literacy and digital inclusion).
conclusionsOur work is the first to conduct a multidisciplinary analysis of the gray literature on DiPH maturity and readiness assessments. Although new methods for systematically researching gray literature are needed, our study holds the potential to develop more comprehensive tools for DiPH system assessments. We contributed toward a more holistic understanding of DiPH. Further examination is required to analyze the suitability and applicability of all identified indicators in diverse health care settings. By developing a standardized method to assess DiPH system maturity and readiness, we aim to foster informed decision-making among health care planners and practitioners to improve resource distribution and continue to drive innovation in health care delivery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.