Background: Telemedicine health service has revolutionized delivery of health care to the doorsteps of needy and deserving cases especially since the onset of the recent pandemic; COVID-19. Beta thalassemia major children require lifelong medical care, despite any untoward circumstances. Aim of this study is to identify role of telemedicine in diagnosing, treating and following-up of thalassemia cases and assess patient satisfaction. Objective: To assess implementation, patient satisfaction and usability of telemedicine health service for pediatric thalassemia cases in Northern Balochistan. Study place and duration: Study was carried out at District Headquarter Hospital Zhob from April 2021 to September 2021. Material & methods: Telemedicine service was established at Pediatric Department DHQ Hospital Zhob during COVID-19 pandemic. The data of all thalassemia cases that were managed/provided health care via telemedicine was collected and recorded. Patient satisfaction and usability of telemedicine service provided was assessed using a questionnaire prepared after thorough study of literature. The parents and care-givers of thalassemia cases treated via telemedicine were interviewed on mobile cell phones/telephone and the questionnaires were filled. Overall satisfaction was also gauged according to a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 depicted extremely dissatisfaction and 5 showed extreme satisfaction. The data was analyzed with Statistical package for social science (SPSS 21). Results: Total 347 patients of thalassemia received telemedicine health service during the study period. There were 182 (52.4%) males and 165 (47.6%) females with age range of 1 – 15 years (mean age 8.09 + 3.47 years). Total 289 (83.3%) telemedicine service seekers were residing in rural areas and rest 58 (16.7%) resided in urban areas. Ninety seven families (28%) belonged to poor class, 192 (55.35) belonged to lower middle class, 55 (15.9%) belonged to upper middle class and 3 (0.9%) belonged to rich class. Majority of participants (97.4%) were significantly satisfied with telemedicine service (p value 0.001). Conclusion: During current COVID-19 pandemic telemedicine has emerged as an exceptional alternate mode of healthcare delivery. It saves cost and time of travelling for thalassemia cases who require life-long hospital visits and follow-up. People have shown high satisfaction and positive attitude towards telemedicine health service provision.
| Published in | American Journal of Pediatrics (Volume 8, Issue 2) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23 |
| Page(s) | 126-131 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Satisfaction, Telemedicine, Thalassemia, Pediatric
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APA Style
Sumera Akram, Muhammad Ahmed Khan. (2022). Implementation, Patient Satisfaction and Usability of Telemedicine Services for Pediatric Thalassemia Cases in Balochistan During COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. American Journal of Pediatrics, 8(2), 126-131. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23
ACS Style
Sumera Akram; Muhammad Ahmed Khan. Implementation, Patient Satisfaction and Usability of Telemedicine Services for Pediatric Thalassemia Cases in Balochistan During COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. Am. J. Pediatr. 2022, 8(2), 126-131. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23
AMA Style
Sumera Akram, Muhammad Ahmed Khan. Implementation, Patient Satisfaction and Usability of Telemedicine Services for Pediatric Thalassemia Cases in Balochistan During COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. Am J Pediatr. 2022;8(2):126-131. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23,
author = {Sumera Akram and Muhammad Ahmed Khan},
title = {Implementation, Patient Satisfaction and Usability of Telemedicine Services for Pediatric Thalassemia Cases in Balochistan During COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond},
journal = {American Journal of Pediatrics},
volume = {8},
number = {2},
pages = {126-131},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajp.20220802.23},
abstract = {Background: Telemedicine health service has revolutionized delivery of health care to the doorsteps of needy and deserving cases especially since the onset of the recent pandemic; COVID-19. Beta thalassemia major children require lifelong medical care, despite any untoward circumstances. Aim of this study is to identify role of telemedicine in diagnosing, treating and following-up of thalassemia cases and assess patient satisfaction. Objective: To assess implementation, patient satisfaction and usability of telemedicine health service for pediatric thalassemia cases in Northern Balochistan. Study place and duration: Study was carried out at District Headquarter Hospital Zhob from April 2021 to September 2021. Material & methods: Telemedicine service was established at Pediatric Department DHQ Hospital Zhob during COVID-19 pandemic. The data of all thalassemia cases that were managed/provided health care via telemedicine was collected and recorded. Patient satisfaction and usability of telemedicine service provided was assessed using a questionnaire prepared after thorough study of literature. The parents and care-givers of thalassemia cases treated via telemedicine were interviewed on mobile cell phones/telephone and the questionnaires were filled. Overall satisfaction was also gauged according to a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 depicted extremely dissatisfaction and 5 showed extreme satisfaction. The data was analyzed with Statistical package for social science (SPSS 21). Results: Total 347 patients of thalassemia received telemedicine health service during the study period. There were 182 (52.4%) males and 165 (47.6%) females with age range of 1 – 15 years (mean age 8.09 + 3.47 years). Total 289 (83.3%) telemedicine service seekers were residing in rural areas and rest 58 (16.7%) resided in urban areas. Ninety seven families (28%) belonged to poor class, 192 (55.35) belonged to lower middle class, 55 (15.9%) belonged to upper middle class and 3 (0.9%) belonged to rich class. Majority of participants (97.4%) were significantly satisfied with telemedicine service (p value 0.001). Conclusion: During current COVID-19 pandemic telemedicine has emerged as an exceptional alternate mode of healthcare delivery. It saves cost and time of travelling for thalassemia cases who require life-long hospital visits and follow-up. People have shown high satisfaction and positive attitude towards telemedicine health service provision.},
year = {2022}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Implementation, Patient Satisfaction and Usability of Telemedicine Services for Pediatric Thalassemia Cases in Balochistan During COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond AU - Sumera Akram AU - Muhammad Ahmed Khan Y1 - 2022/06/16 PY - 2022 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23 DO - 10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23 T2 - American Journal of Pediatrics JF - American Journal of Pediatrics JO - American Journal of Pediatrics SP - 126 EP - 131 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2472-0909 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.23 AB - Background: Telemedicine health service has revolutionized delivery of health care to the doorsteps of needy and deserving cases especially since the onset of the recent pandemic; COVID-19. Beta thalassemia major children require lifelong medical care, despite any untoward circumstances. Aim of this study is to identify role of telemedicine in diagnosing, treating and following-up of thalassemia cases and assess patient satisfaction. Objective: To assess implementation, patient satisfaction and usability of telemedicine health service for pediatric thalassemia cases in Northern Balochistan. Study place and duration: Study was carried out at District Headquarter Hospital Zhob from April 2021 to September 2021. Material & methods: Telemedicine service was established at Pediatric Department DHQ Hospital Zhob during COVID-19 pandemic. The data of all thalassemia cases that were managed/provided health care via telemedicine was collected and recorded. Patient satisfaction and usability of telemedicine service provided was assessed using a questionnaire prepared after thorough study of literature. The parents and care-givers of thalassemia cases treated via telemedicine were interviewed on mobile cell phones/telephone and the questionnaires were filled. Overall satisfaction was also gauged according to a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 depicted extremely dissatisfaction and 5 showed extreme satisfaction. The data was analyzed with Statistical package for social science (SPSS 21). Results: Total 347 patients of thalassemia received telemedicine health service during the study period. There were 182 (52.4%) males and 165 (47.6%) females with age range of 1 – 15 years (mean age 8.09 + 3.47 years). Total 289 (83.3%) telemedicine service seekers were residing in rural areas and rest 58 (16.7%) resided in urban areas. Ninety seven families (28%) belonged to poor class, 192 (55.35) belonged to lower middle class, 55 (15.9%) belonged to upper middle class and 3 (0.9%) belonged to rich class. Majority of participants (97.4%) were significantly satisfied with telemedicine service (p value 0.001). Conclusion: During current COVID-19 pandemic telemedicine has emerged as an exceptional alternate mode of healthcare delivery. It saves cost and time of travelling for thalassemia cases who require life-long hospital visits and follow-up. People have shown high satisfaction and positive attitude towards telemedicine health service provision. VL - 8 IS - 2 ER -
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