Transforming healthcare delivery: a descriptive study of a novel provider-to-provider virtual care platform.

Introduction: Addressing challenges in access to specialty care, particularly long wait times and geographic disparities, is a pressing issue in the Canadian healthcare system. This study aimed to evaluate the impact and feasibility of provider-to-provider phone consultations between primary care providers (PCPs) and specialists using a novel virtual care platform in Nova Scotia (Virtual Hallway).

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey over 5 months, involving 211 PCPs and 34 specialists across Nova Scotia.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Identifying Key Issues Using Social Media and Natural Language Processing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people's lives in many ways. Social media data can reveal public perceptions and experience with respect to the pandemic, and also reveal factors that hamper or support efforts to curb global spread of the disease. In this paper, we analyzed COVID-19-related comments collected from six social media platforms using natural language processing (NLP) techniques.

Health, Psychosocial, and Social Issues Emanating From the COVID-19 Pandemic Based on Social Media Comments: Text Mining and Thematic Analysis Approach.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global health crisis that affects many aspects of human lives. In the absence of vaccines and antivirals, several behavioral change and policy initiatives such as physical distancing have been implemented to control the spread of COVID-19. Social media data can reveal public perceptions toward how governments and health agencies worldwide are handling the pandemic, and the impact of the disease on people regardless of their geographic locations in line with various factors that hinder or facilitate the efforts to control the spread of the pandemic globally.