Abstract
The pandemic has triggered an unprecedented global demand for home caregiving to manage asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 cases. Older people and others with pre-existing medical conditions (including diabetes) appear to be more vulnerable to severe illness caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Approximately 25% of Saudis suffer from diabetes; these 4 million patients require 5.5 million consultations and follow-up visits each year to manage their disease. Furthermore, with the increasing number of patients with diabetes and their need for professional care, it is difficult and time consuming to share patient-care information among caregivers in a traditional way; this increases the financial and psychological burden of home caregivers. Although the pandemic has also triggered a global demand for digital health technology adoption worldwide to achieve higher standards of health, recent developments in advanced technologies and mobile health (mHealth) applications have failed to equip the caregivers with the right ecosystem for patient-centered information sharing to allow for informed care decisions. Therefore, there is a gap in the literature as the current solutions fall short of facilitating an effective communication channel among caregivers and between them and their patients, supporting diverse caregiving groups with multiple languages, distributing tasks between caregivers to alleviate the burden on one caregiver, providing a treatment plan by a specialized care team to be viewed and followed by caregivers and patients, and alerting everyone in case of an emergency. Based on the need for empowering home caregivers to cope with the pressure, we propose eHomeCaregiving, an mHealth solution that can build a transparent blockchain-based patient-centered family caregiving ecosystem. eHomeCaregiving facilitates care continuity in patients with type 2 diabetes in Saudi Arabia by integrating care, saving time and efforts of all caregivers, and improving the patient’s quality of life and outcomes, particularly in terms of facing emerging challenges amid the pandemic.
Highlights
According to the WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented global demand for home caregiving to manage the 80% of COVID-19 cases with minimal flu-like symptoms (International Diabetes Federation, 2020) and for digital health technology adoption to achieve higher standards of health (World Health Organization, 2020a)
This paper is focused on patients with type 2 diabetes, which occurs in patients over 40 years of age, and according to the consulting family physician we interviewed, it is the most prevalent type of diabetes in Saudi Arabia
Supporting caregivers is one of the most important issues that has been neglected around the world, there is a growing demand for their help, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
According to the WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented global demand for home caregiving to manage the 80% of COVID-19 cases with minimal flu-like symptoms (International Diabetes Federation, 2020) and for digital health technology adoption to achieve higher standards of health (World Health Organization, 2020a). COVID-19 patients who are asymptomatic or those with mild or moderate disease could be suitable for home isolation and care without any need for emergency interventions or hospitalization (World Health Organization, 2020b). This requires home caregiving and increases the number of unpaid family caregivers. The patients face many difficulties, such as waiting times, and the need to see more than one doctor on the same day to receive full treatment If they have disabilities, this process may be stressful for them
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
