Telehealth in Yemen: An overview and a proposed model

Yemen’s Health sector has grown significantly gauged from the increasing number of hospitals, health units, health centers, beds and medical staff. Despite the country's direction towards the health sector development and improvement, Yemen ranked poorly in all central factors of health services and access.This paper aims to propose a high level telehealth model which is peculiar to Yemen in terms of its existing health services, culture, geography and ICT readiness.In achieving the aim, a series of interview and document study were conducted to access its ICT potential-infrastructure;rural communication; and available manpower and skill set. It is hoped that implementation of the framework will be able to address the issue

The impact of location of the uptake of telephone based healthcare

Telephone healthcare systems have been put forward as a key strategy to overcome geographical disadvantage, however, evidence has suggested that usage decreases with increasing rurality. This research aimed to identify geographical high and low areas of usage of NHS Direct, a leading telephone healthcare provider worldwide to determine if usage is influenced by rurality. National call data was collected (January, 2011) from the NHS Direct Clinical Assessment System for all 0845 4647 calls in England, UK (N=360,137). Data extracted for analysis included; unit postcode of patient, type of call, date of call, time of call and final disposition. Calls were mapped using GIS mapping software using full postcode, aggregated by population estimate by local authority to determine confidence intervals across two thresholds by call rate. Uptake rate Output Area Classification (OAC) group profiles was performed using the chi-square goodness of fit. The majority of calls were ‘symptomatic’ (N=280,055; 74.8%) i.e. calls that were triaged by an expert nurse, with the remaining 25.2% of calls health/ medicine information only (N=94,430). NHS Direct were able to manage through self-care advice and health information 43.5 of all calls made (N=99,367) with no onward referral needed. Geographical pattern of calls were highest for more urbanised areas with significant higher call usage found in larger cities. Lower observed usage was found in areas that are more rural of which were characterised by above average older populations. This was supported by geo-segmentation, which highlighted that rural and older communities had the lowest expected uptake rate. There is a variation of usage of NHS Direct relating to rurality, which suggests that this type of service has not been successful in reducing accessible barriers. However, geographical variations are likely to be influenced by age. There is a need for exploratory to determine the underlying factors that contribute to variation in uptake of these services particularly older people who reside in rural communities. This will have worldwide implications as to how telephone based healthcare is introduced

Care Network Coordination for Chemotherapy at Home: A Case Study

International audienceThis paper deals with a system of chemotherapy at home which is managed by a Home Care Services (HCS) structure. The main role of this HCS structure is to coordinate care actors for a smooth organization of chemotherapy at home. In this work, we model a real system of chemotherapy at home managed by a HCS structure, and simulate its behaviour. The objective is to evaluate the relevance of such a system for current activities of the HCS structure, and to propose solutions for improving the optimal coordination of the care network for chemotherapy at home

A Novel Real-Time Intelligent Tele Cardiology System Using Wireless Technology to Detect Cardiac Abnormalities

This study presents a novel wireless, ambulatory,real- time, and auto alarm intelligent telecardiology system to improve healthcare for cardiovascular disease, which is one of the most prevalent and costly health problems in the world.This system consists of a lightweight and power-saving wireless ECG device equipped with a built-in automatic warning expert system. A temperature sensor is fixed to the user2019;s body, which senses temperature in the body, and delivers it to the ECG device. This device is connected to a microcontroller and ubiquitous real-time display platform. The acquired ECG signals which are transmitted to the microcontroller is then, processed by the expert system in order to detect the abnormality. An alert signal is sent to the remote database server, which can be accessed by an Internet browser, once an abnormal ECG is detected. The current version of the expert system can identify five types of abnormal cardiac rhythms in real-time, including sinus tachycardia, sinus bradycardia, wide QRS complex, atrial fibrillation (AF), and cardiac asystole, which is very important for both the subjects who are being monitored and the healthcare personnel tracking cardiac-rhythm disorders. The proposed system also activates an emergency medical alarm system when problems occur. We believe that in the future a business-card-like ECG device, accompanied with a Personal Computer, can make universal cardiac protection service possible

Investigating the Causes of Elderly People Leaving Home during Coronavirus Disease-19 Epidemic

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) disease affects all age groups, especially the elderly, and regarding the high mortality rate among the elderly, preventive measures are needed to reduce mortality in the elderly. AIM: This study was conducted to investigate the causes of in elderly people leaving home in time of COVID-19 epidemic. METHODS: The present study is a descriptive-analytical study performed on 1656 elderly people in Urmia, Iran, by simple random sampling method. The data collection tool in this study was a researcher-made questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, a questionnaire on the causes of the elderly leaving home during the COVID-19 epidemic. Data were analyzed using Chi-square and Fisher tests using SPSS 23 software. RESULTS: The results revealed that the highest concern of the elderly to leave home was to receive health services (45.89%) such as visiting the doctor or the caregiver, receiving medication, and so on. As the second priority, buying daily necessities such as bread, food, clothes … (42.75%) was one of the reasons for the elderly to leave home. Furthermore, education, gender, age, underlying diseases, occupation, and living conditions of the elderly were related to the needs of health services and living necessities and this relationship was statistically significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Effective interventions should be designed based on the causes of the elderly leaving home, including the use of home distance care and health ambassadors to estimate the needs and causes of leaving home. Therefore, the elderly would be protected from this disease and its mortality

Attempts to strengthen maternal functioning in the postpartum period: A literature review

Objective: This study aims to examine that the effects of home visiting, prenatal education, parent classes, and tele counselling on maternal functioning.Methods: The search process was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane and Google Scholar using key words of “motherhood’’, ‘‘maternity functioning’’, ‘‘postpartum’’, ‘‘postpartum care’’, ‘‘home visiting’’, ‘‘prenatal education’’, ‘‘parent classes’’, ‘‘tele counseling’’ and a combination of them English-Turkish language papers were searched between 2000 and 2015 years.  All studies relating to subject was included.Results: Discharge occurs shortly after birth in some countries such as the United States and Turkey, women do not receive adequate care, training and counseling and the demands of childrearing often exceed the mother’s expectations.Conclusion: Women should be supported with training programs, home visits, and phone counseling aimed at optimal maternal child health and development

Swedish District Nurses’ Attitudes to Implement Information and Communication Technology in Home Nursing

The use of information and communication technology has increased in the society, and can be useful in nursing care. The aim of this study was to describe district nurses’ attitudes regarding the implementation of information and communication technology in home nursing. The first and third authors performed five focus group discussions with 19 district nurses’ from five primary healthcare centres in northern Sweden. During the focus group discussions, the following topics were discussed: the current and future use of information and communication technology in home nursing; expectations, advantages, disadvantages and hindrances in the use of information and communication technology in home nursing; and the use of information and communication technology from an ethical perspective. The transcribed focus group discussions were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results showed that district nurses’ attitudes were positive regarding the use of information and communication technology in their work. They also asked for possibilities to influence the design and its introduction. However, the use of information and communication technology in home nursing can be described as a complement to communication that could not replace human physical encounters. Improvements and risks, as well as the importance of physical presence in home nursing were considered vital. The results revealed that the use of information and communication technology requires changes in the district nurses’ work situation

Swedish District Nurses’ Attitudes to Implement Information and Communication Technology in Home Nursing

The use of information and communication technology has increased in the society, and can be useful in nursing care. The aim of this study was to describe district nurses’ attitudes regarding the implementation of information and communication technology in home nursing. The first and third authors performed five focus group discussions with 19 district nurses’ from five primary healthcare centres in northern Sweden. During the focus group discussions, the following topics were discussed: the current and future use of information and communication technology in home nursing; expectations, advantages, disadvantages and hindrances in the use of information and communication technology in home nursing; and the use of information and communication technology from an ethical perspective. The transcribed focus group discussions were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results showed that district nurses’ attitudes were positive regarding the use of information and communication technology in their work. They also asked for possibilities to influence the design and its introduction. However, the use of information and communication technology in home nursing can be described as a complement to communication that could not replace human physical encounters. Improvements and risks, as well as the importance of physical presence in home nursing were considered vital. The results revealed that the use of information and communication technology requires changes in the district nurses’ work situation