Health Administration Department, Business Administration School, King Saud University, Riyad, Saudi Arabia.
Biostatistics Department, Inaya Medical Colleges, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2021 Mar 18;21(1):103. doi: 10.1186/s12911-021-01437-6.
The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia is expanding the country's telemedicine services by using advanced technology in health services. In doing so, an e-health application (app), Seha, was introduced in 2018 that allows individuals to have face-to-face visual medical consultations with their doctors on their smartphones.
This study evaluated the effectiveness of the app in improving healthcare delivery by ensuring patient satisfaction with the care given, increasing access to care, and improving efficiency in the healthcare system.
A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the perceptions of users of the Seha app and non-users who continued with traditional health services. The data were collected using an online survey via Google Forms between June 2020 and September 2020. Independent t tests and chi-square (χ) tests were conducted to answer the research questions.
There was a significant difference between users and non-users in terms of ease of access to health services (t = - 9.38, p < 0.05), with app users having a higher mean score (4.19 ± 0.91) than non-users (3.41 ± 1.00); satisfaction with health services (t = - 6.33, p < 0.05), with users having a higher mean score (3.96 ± 0.91) than non-users (3.45 ± 0.94); and efficiency (only one visit needed for treatment) (t = - 3.20, p < 0.05), with users having a higher mean score (3.71 ± 0.93) than non-users (3.45 ± 0.93). There were significant associations between the use of the Seha app and age (χ = 8.79, p < 0.05), gender (χ = 22.19, p < 0.05), region (χ = 19.74, p < 0.05), and occupation (χ = 22.05, p < 0.05). There were significant relationships between the three items (on access, satisfaction, and efficiency) and experiencing technical issues (t = 4.47, t = 8.11, and t = 3.24, respectively, p < 0.05), with users who faced technical problems having significantly lower mean scores for all three items.
This study provided evidence that the Seha app improved the delivery of healthcare in Saudi Arabia. Users of the app had a better health experience in terms of their perceived ease of access to healthcare services; their satisfaction with healthcare services; and the efficiency of the system, measured by the number of required doctor visits. Other factors that appeared to influence the use of the app included age, gender, usual source of care, and technical difficulties.
沙特阿拉伯卫生部正在通过在卫生服务中使用先进技术来扩大该国的远程医疗服务。为此，2018 年推出了一款名为 Seha 的电子健康应用程序，该应用程序允许个人通过智能手机与医生进行面对面的可视医疗咨询。
本研究评估了该应用程序通过确保患者对所提供护理的满意度、增加获得护理的机会以及提高医疗系统效率来改善医疗服务提供的效果。
使用横断面研究设计来评估 Seha 应用程序用户和继续使用传统医疗服务的非用户的看法。数据是通过 2020 年 6 月至 9 月期间通过 Google 表单在线调查收集的。进行了独立 t 检验和卡方（χ）检验来回答研究问题。
在获得医疗服务的便利性方面，用户和非用户之间存在显著差异（t=-9.38，p<0.05），应用程序用户的平均得分（4.19±0.91）高于非用户（3.41±1.00）；对医疗服务的满意度（t=-6.33，p<0.05），用户的平均得分（3.96±0.91）高于非用户（3.45±0.94）；以及效率（仅需一次就诊即可治疗）（t=-3.20，p<0.05），用户的平均得分（3.71±0.93）高于非用户（3.45±0.93）。Seha 应用程序的使用与年龄（χ=8.79，p<0.05）、性别（χ=22.19，p<0.05）、地区（χ=19.74，p<0.05）和职业（χ=22.05，p<0.05）之间存在显著关联。在获得服务的便利性、满意度和效率这三个项目之间存在显著关系（t=4.47，t=8.11，t=3.24，分别为 p<0.05），使用该应用程序遇到技术问题的用户在所有三个项目的平均得分明显较低。
本研究提供了证据表明，Seha 应用程序改善了沙特阿拉伯的医疗服务提供。应用程序用户在获得医疗服务的便利性、对医疗服务的满意度以及系统效率（以所需就诊次数衡量）方面有更好的健康体验。其他似乎影响应用程序使用的因素包括年龄、性别、常规医疗来源和技术困难。
