Applying eHealth for Pandemic Management in Saudi Arabia in the Context of COVID-19: Survey Study and Framework Proposal.

Abdullah Alsharif

doi:10.2196/19524

Abstract

BackgroundThe increased frequency of epidemics such as Middle East respiratory syndrome, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Ebola virus, and Zika virus has created stress on health care management and operations as well as on relevant stakeholders. In addition, the recent COVID-19 outbreak has been creating challenges for various countries and their respective health care organizations in managing and controlling the pandemic. One of the most important observations during the recent outbreak is the lack of effective eHealth frameworks for managing and controlling pandemics.ObjectiveThe aims of this study are to review the current National eHealth Strategy of Saudi Arabia and to propose an integrated eHealth framework that can be effective for managing health care operations and services during pandemics.MethodsA questionnaire-based survey was administered to 316 health care professionals to review the current national eHealth framework of Saudi Arabia and identify the objectives, factors, and components that are key for managing and controlling pandemics. Purposive sampling was used to collect responses from diverse experts, including physicians, technical experts, nurses, administrative experts, and pharmacists. The survey was administered at five hospitals in Saudi Arabia by forwarding the survey link using a web-based portal. A sample population of 350 was achieved, which was filtered to exclude incomplete and ineligible samples, giving a sample of 316 participants.ResultsOf the 316 participants, 187 (59.2%) found the current eHealth framework to be ineffective, and more than 50% of the total participants stated that the framework lacked some essential components and objectives. Additional components and objectives focusing on using eHealth for managing information, creating awareness, increasing accessibility and reachability, promoting self-management and self-collaboration, promoting electronic services, and extensive stakeholder engagement were considered to be the most important factors by more than 80% of the total participants.ConclusionsManaging pandemics requires an effective and efficient eHealth framework that can be used to manage various health care services by integrating different eHealth components and collaborating with all stakeholders.

Highlights

Background eHealth can be basically defined as the application of information and communications technology (ICT) in the health care sector [1]. eHealth is considered to be one of the major developments of the past few decades and has revolutionized the operation of health care services
Of the 316 participants, 187 (59.2%) found the current eHealth framework to be ineffective, and more than 50% of the total participants stated that the framework lacked some essential components and objectives
To improve the process of eHealth implementation, different frameworks were developed by different countries and health care organizations according to their needs and specifications [5,6]

Summary

Introduction

Background eHealth can be basically defined as the application of information and communications technology (ICT) in the health care sector [1]. eHealth is considered to be one of the major developments of the past few decades and has revolutionized the operation of health care services. To improve the process of eHealth implementation, different frameworks were developed by different countries (eg, Austria in the European Union) and health care organizations according to their needs and specifications [5,6]. These frameworks and documents mainly focus on examples and present outlines (high level designs); they offer very little information to guide the process of development [1]. These studies focused on readiness strategies, such as resource management, finances, and vaccination; none of them highlighted an operational framework for pandemics that includes eHealth approaches or stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities These studies were distributed across different regions and may not be applicable in all cases. One of the most important observations during the recent outbreak is the lack of effective eHealth frameworks for managing and controlling pandemics

Methods

Results

Conclusion