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Satisfaction and Experience of Palliative Patients with 24/7 Hotline Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

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Satisfaction and Experience of Palliative Patients with 24/7 Hotline Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia Research Article ISSN: 2574 -1241 DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2021.37.005978 Satisfaction and Experience of Palliative Patients with 24/7 Hotline Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia Sami Ayed Alshammary1*, Yahya Assiri2, Reema Al Rasheed3, Yacoub Abuzied4, Igbal Abelati Mahgoub5 and Khalid Alqumizi6 1Palliative Care Unit, Comprehensive Cancer Centre, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh and Center for Postgraduate Studies in Family Medicine, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia 2Department of North Business Unit, Health Holding Company, Saudi Arabia 3Department of Family and Community Medicine, PGY-1 Resident Physician, University of Toronto, Canada 4Department of Nursing, Rehabilitation Hospital, King Fahad Medical City, Saudi Arabia 5National Home for Health Services, Saudi Arabia 6Department of North Business Unit, Health Holding Company, Saudi Arabia *Corresponding author: Sami Ayed Alshammary, Palliative Care Unit, Comprehensive Cancer Centre, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh and Center for Postgraduate Studies in Family Medicine, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Received: July 07, 2021 Background: The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a number of shifts on healthcare. Conventional face-to-face visits were shifted during lockdown to virtual ones. Palliative Published: July 19, 2021 care (PC) virtual visits have had high satisfaction rates, especially with patients in remote areas. Due to a number of factors, further studies are needed to develop tools that can be helpful and cost effective in improving patient’s quality of life. Citation: Sami Ayed Alshammary, Yahya Assiri, Reema Al Rasheed, Yacoub Abuzied, Objective: Our aim is to learn the main reasons palliative patients in Saudi Arabia Igbal Abelati Mahgoub, Khalid Alqumizi. sought help via calling the free 24/7 hotline and to discuss the hotline’s satisfaction and Satisfaction and Experience of Palliative effectiveness in solving the palliative patient’s concerns during COVID-19. Patients with 24/7 Hotline Service Dur- Methods: A cross-sectional sample analysis was obtained from 214 patients from ing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Ara- different regions in Saudi Arabia. A total number of 843 calls were made to the 24/7 PC bia. Biomed J Sci & Tech Res 37(2)-2021. hotlines from the period of 17 April 2020 to 28 February 2021, shortly after COVID-19 BJSTR. MS.ID.005978. pandemic began. The purpose of the call, the caller’s relationship to the patient, the Keywords: Palliative Care; Virtual Care; status of the complaint, and the satisfaction rate were collected at the end of the call Telemedicine; Patient Satisfaction; COV- through a voluntary phone survey. ID-19 Results: The primary reasons that palliative patients called the hotline were: 30% Abbreviations: PC: Palliative care; WHO: World Health Organization; PPE: Personal for medication refills, (n=247), 24.7% for medical complaints, (n=205), 15.8% were for Protective Equipment; MOH: Ministry of callers and patient’s sons/daughters accounted for 51.3%. 85% of patients said that booking a new appointment (n=131). Patients themselves accounted for 27.8% of the Health; FTE: Full-Time Equivalent their issue had been resolved by the end of the call and 89% of our sample were happy with the service provided through the hotline. Conclusion: The 24/7 hotline service for PC patients in Saudi Arabia was successful in its application and resulted in a high level of satisfaction among a wide sample of participants. The main reasons palliative patients reached out were to request medication hotline service effectively solved 85% of patients’ issues. refills, seek assistance with a medical complaint, and to book a new appointment. Our Copyright@ Sami Ayed Alshammary | Biomed J Sci & Tech Res | BJSTR. MS.ID.005978. 29292 Volume 37- Issue 2 DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2021.37.005978 Introduction study, patients and health professionals in Specialized Palliative Telemedicine is a division of medicine that deals with patients Care have been actively engaged with telemedicine in PC and have via telecommunication networks to deliver treatment from a been able to cooperate and make decisions on their health [6]. distance [1]. Telemedicine has been increasingly used worldwide despite earlier resistance from healthcare practitioners who felt Visits for evaluation of chemotherapy were shifted to a virtual that it would endanger healthcare integrity and clinical results setting in Texas, USA during COVID-19 [7]. Although 73% reported [1]. COVID-19 pandemic, however, has considerably accelerated higher satisfaction, 65% of patients said they would prefer in the existence of telemedicine and digital health [2]. Telemedicine person visits, suggesting that there is a distinction between virtual became an inevitable choice when patients and their families were palliative care and other disciplines in telemedicine [7]. Another under lockdown and had to cancel their in-person appointments study discussing telemedicine’s role in long-term care of radiation for multiple reasons [2]. In New York, an 8729% increase in video visits was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic (compared in the reduction of cost for patients, especially to those living oncology found tele-oncology to be more efficient and resulted to before in March 4, 2020), and video visits were associated in remote areas [8]. It also found that tele-oncology allowed for with higher satisfaction rates [3]. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes Palliative Care (PC) as the branch of medicine risk patients and is not a substitute for a medical visit, but more continuity of care although its benefits are more evident in lower that improves the quality of life of patients and their families who of a supplementary tool [8]. However, 50% of oncologist deemed are experiencing life threatening disease [4]. It is achieved through virtual prescription of chemotherapy not preferable [7]. Most prevention and relief of suffering by early diagnosis, thorough oncologists, over 80%, preferred hormonal and medical therapy virtual prescriptions [7]. Some argue that telephone consultations medical, psychosocial, and spiritual issues [4]. Telemedicine use require a wealth of experience and skills, because it might miss evaluation, and treatment of pain and other difficulties such as in palliative care has long been accepted, but the literature on important cues that can affect patients negatively [8]. Telephone encounters compared with video visits were found to be narrower scarce [1,5]. Many considerations play unique roles in the virtual in focus and tend to suppress the patient’s ability to express his virtual palliative care-specific advantages and drawbacks is still treatment of PC patients, such as practical, clinical, and ethical concerns naturally [9]. A study analyzed factors associated with favorability of telemedicine among oncology patients and found as being practical, inclusive of a multidisciplinary team, and that factors [5]. The benefits of video consultations are summarized also promotes collaboration between healthcare practitioners [6]. with telemedicine satisfaction was higher education level of the that the only factor that had a statistically significant relationship However, empathic patient-physician partnership was criticized patient [10]. in simulated environments, partially because PC specialists did In a large tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, out of 200 not feel secure addressing critical and emotional issues through a patients, 84 were seen in virtual clinics over a period of four months, physical distance [6]. from March to May 2020 [4]. These and multiple national virtual Problem Statement clinics were set up by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to respond to critical problems and offer treatment options to palliative care Saudi Arabia’s unique cultural values and computer literacy are patients in a timely manner [4]. A hotline service was established completely different from other countries and are making rapid by MOH to connect patients to these clinics and ensure continuity progress, which is why it is important to investigate their desires of care aiming to enhance PC patient’s quality of life. A brief survey for virtual treatment. Shortly after the pandemic, PC patients in followed the call aiming to measure PC patient’s satisfaction of this Saudi Arabia were helpless and distraught because their access to service. healthcare became interrupted and their fear of catching COVID-19 was increasing. A multi-factor analysis to assess the option of Materials and Methods virtual visits related to PC was undertaken in the United Kingdom Study Design and Setting in 2020 [5]. Stakeholders preferred virtual treatment because This cross sectional study was conducted in Saudi Arabia. As it decreases utilization of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), per the 2019 statistics by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural decreases uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, and improves Affairs, the population in these regions is estimated at 2,595,762 time regulation [5]. Families and patients preferred a virtual visit people, constituting around 7.6% of Saudi Arabia’s population because of its convenience, privacy, and some even preferred it [11]. The population has been growing at a rate of 1.5% in the because it allowed them to read lips, which was not an option under last decade [11]. This is a cross-section analysis in which 214 patients evaluated their experience upon concluding a call to the home care is thought to be accessible and could potentially improve
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