Digital health interventions in adult intensive care and recovery after critical illness to promote survivorship care

Digital health refers to the field of using and developing technology to improve health outcomes. Digital health and digital health interventions (DHIs) within the area of intensive care and critical illness survivorship are rapidly evolving. Digital health interventions refer to technologies in clinical interventional format. A DHI could support clinicians with increasing clinical demands to have improved oversight of their patients’ recovery trajectory or potential for deterioration, improve efficiency of healthcare delivery, and/or predict patient outcomes. In this narrative review, DHIs are explored across the continuum from in the ICU (recognising and managing clinical deterioration, identifying individuals at risk of poor recovery outcomes, tailoring care of the ICU patient and supporting the emotional needs of their family) through to integration in the primary care setting (adjuncts to ICU follow-up clinics and tracking, coaching and remote monitoring). Some of the DHIs discussed in this narrative review (to name a few) include interventions delivered via: Telehealth, artificial intelligence, wearable devices, virtual reality, and mobile phone applications (apps). Additionally, exploration of DHIs used successfully in other health fields are discussed to highlight potential opportunities for adaptation to the ICU context. Finally, the review provides an overview of considerations needed in the development of new DHIs. Development should consider the intended user, barriers to technology engagement and design. In the implementation of a new DHI, the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on Digital Health and appropriate evaluation should be considered prior to scaling up. Optimal implementation of DHIs could help address the key challenges of the ICU field.