Dataset Information

Patient Acceptance and Intention to Use e-Consultations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT:

Background

Over the last decade, the use of digital technology has increased immeasurably and transformed both our personal and professional lives. The medical profession quickly embraced this development, especially after the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical consultations were transitioned to online settings as a substitute for face-to-face consultations. This exponential acceleration of the use of remote online consultations (e-consultations) was deemed necessary to respond to the impact of the global pandemic. This study identifies the factors that influence actual patient use and the intention to use e-consultations in Saudi Arabia.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was distributed online via social media platforms targeting the population living in Saudi Arabia from August to December 2020. The questionnaire measured patient perceptions of and attitudes toward utilizing e-consultations using a validated questionnaire informed by the technology acceptance model (TAM). Analyses were performed in SPSS to identify the external factors that influence patients' actual use of e-consultations and to assess the TAM factors (usefulness, social influence, and ease of use) that influence the intention to use e-consultations across both actual users and never-users.

Results

A total of 150 participants completed the questionnaire; the average age was 38 years old, 85% of the participants were females, and 67% reported never using e-consultations. Additionally, motivation, trust, attitude, and social influence were significantly related to participants' intention to use e-consultations.

Conclusion

Participants' trust in and perception of the usefulness of e-consultations were significant factors in their intention to use e-consultation services. Policymakers' attention to those factors could play a role in increasing public acceptance and the use of e-consultations to improve distance medical care.

SUBMITTER: Althumairi A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9280353 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThere is paucity in the literature regarding gallbladder cancer in Saudi Arabia, possibly because it is not among the top 10 cancers diagnosed nationwide according to the Saudi Cancer Registry. Moreover, national or regional data on gallbladder cancer in Saudi Arabia have not been analyzed. The purpose of this study was to describe the presentation, disease stage, histology, and survival rates for gallbladder cancer in Saudi patients at a single institution between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2017.Materials and methodsThis was a retrospective study of 76 patients who presented to our hospital between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2017, with established diagnosis of gallbladder carcinoma. The diagnosis was made either histopathologically following simple laparoscopic cholecystectomy or biopsy from metastatic liver lesion in patients with gallbladder mass, or the high suspicion of gallbladder carcinoma based on incidental radiological findings. Presentation, disease stage, histology, and treatment modalities were analyzed using descriptive statistics and frequency distributions. Survival rates were analyzed and presented using Kaplan-Meier curves.ResultsBased on initial analyses the disease was more frequent among women (62.0%) than men (39.0%). Surgical resection was attempted in 40.8% patients. The average age at presentation and diagnosis of gallbladder carcinoma was 62.4 years. The disease had two peaks, one at 51.0 years and the other between 66.0 and 70.0 years. The median survival time for the overall at-risk patients was only 1.0 year, while for stage IVB patients was 7.2 months. Adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified (NOS) was the most common histopathology type (75.0%), with most patients presenting with stage IVB disease (75.0%). Gallbladder carcinoma was incidentally detected in 42.1%, including three cases (3.9%) diagnosed at our hospital.ConclusionsGallbladder cancer is a rare type of cancer in Saudi Arabia, and most patients are treated surgically, despite being mostly diagnosed at the advanced stage of the disease.

Project description:BackgroundEastern province of Saudi Arabia is an industrial zone with large immigrant population and high level of tuberculosis case notification among immigrants. The impact of immigration and current trends of tuberculosis transmission among immigrants and autochthonous population in the region had not been investigated so far using molecular tools.MethodologyDuring 2009- 2011, a total of 524 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were collected from the central tuberculosis reference laboratory, representing an estimated 79.2% of the culture-positive tuberculosis cases over the study period in the province. These isolates were genotyped by using 24 locus-based MIRU-VNTR typing and spoligotyping followed by first line drug susceptibility testing. The molecular clustering profiles and phylogenetic diversity of isolates were determined and compared to the geographical origins of the patients.Principle findingsGenotyping showed an overall predominance of Delhi/CAS (29.4%), EAI (23.8%) and Ghana (13.3%) lineages, with slightly higher proportions of Delhi/CAS among autochthonous population (33.3 %) and EAI (30.9%) among immigrants. Rate of any drug resistance was 20.2% with 2.5% of multi-drug resistance. Strain cluster analysis indicated 42 clusters comprising 210 isolates, resulting in a calculated recent transmission index of 32.1%. Overall shared cluster ratio was 78.6% while 75.8% were shared between autochthonous population and immigrant population with a predominance of immigrants from South east Asia (40.7%). In contrast, cross national transmission within the immigrant population was limited (24.2%). Younger age (15-30- p value-0.043, 16-45, p value 0.030), Saudi nationality (p value-0.004) and South East Asian origin (p value-0.011) were identified as significant predisposing factors for molecular strain clustering.ConclusionsThe high proportion of molecular clusters shared among the autochthonous and immigrant populations suggests a high permeability of tuberculosis transmission between both populations in the province. These results prompt for the need to strengthen the current tuberculosis control strategies and surveillance programs.