Abstract
BackgroundAbu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the largest of the seven emirates in terms of land mass and population. Abu Dhabi emirate has three different geographical regions: the Central Capital District, the Eastern Region, and the Western Region. The health system has been regulated by the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD), and has been provided by the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), since 2007. The UAE has a high population-burden of morbidity and mortality related to chronic diseases. This paper aims to characterize the Primary Health Care (PHC) public services in Abu Dhabi using the Chronic Care Model (CCM) as a framework.MethodsOfficially published data from HAAD, SEHA and the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention was reviewed and abstracted. The Preferred Reporting Items Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement was used as a baseline to review the PHC services through the CCM approach and to identify potential opportunities for improvement.ResultsThere are 38 SEHA Ambulatory Healthcare Centers (AHS) that provide PHC, from which 20 are located in the Eastern Region and the other 18 in the Central Capital District. The AHS adopted the principles of the patient-centered medical home model, aiming at providing structured, proactive and coordinated care. Implementation of the CCM elements aligns with those standards and is positively associated with the use of interventions targeting high-risk behaviors.ConclusionThe UAE has a strong foundation in place for addressing the growing problem of chronic diseases. The CCM has been shown to have beneficial effects on clinical outcomes reinforcing the PHC procedures and processes of care and should continue to inform systematic efforts to improve the care that lead to better lives for the Abu Dhabi community.
Highlights
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the largest of the seven emirates in terms of land mass and population
- Provide timely reminders for providers and patients. - Identify relevant subpopulations for proactive care. - Facilitate individual patient care planning. - Share information with patients and providers to coordinate care. - Monitor performance of practice team and care system. This was a systematic review designed to contribute to the knowledge of the primary healthcare services in Abu Dhabi, and investigate whether the aims of the Primary Health Care (PHC) in Abu Dhabi were aligned with the six elements from the Chronic Care Model
Systematic reviews have five key characteristics according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews: (i) a clear set of objectives with pre-defined eligibility criteria; (ii) an explicit and reproducible methodology; (iii) a systematic search to identify all studies that would meet the eligibility criteria; (iv) an assessment of the validity of the findings; and (v) a systematic presentation of the characteristics and findings of the studies [10].This study follows the Cochrane Collaboration guidelines for conducting systematic reviews and the focus was the specific research question: “What are the PHC in Abu Dhabi Emirate?” and “Are the aims of the PHC properly aligned with Chronic Care Model (CCM) approaches? If they are not, where are the gaps?”
Summary
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the largest of the seven emirates in terms of land mass and population. Abu Dhabi emirate has three different geographical regions: the Central Capital District, the Eastern Region, and the Western Region. This paper aims to characterize the Primary Health Care (PHC) public services in Abu Dhabi using the Chronic Care Model (CCM) as a framework. Abu Dhabi has three different regions called the Abu Dhabi Central Capital region, the Eastern Al Ain region and the Western Al Gharbia region (Fig. 1). The 2014 mid-year population estimate for the emirate of Abu Dhabi was 2,656,448 [4] In this emirate, the majority of the population were male, with only a third (33.5%) comprised of women (see Fig. 2). Since 2000, there has been a slight decrease in the age group 0–14 years with a continuous increase in the age group 15–64 years, but in 2009–10 the trend was reversed
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