Jordan as a Medical Hotspot: Views on Medical Tourism

Purpose:  This study focuses on the concept of medical tourism, its significance, and its implications for the Jordanian health sector. Patients travel to Jordan to seek elective, less expensive medical procedures while having a vacation. Other factors that promote medical tourism include better quality of care, shorter queues, exotic locations, and culture. The Medical Liability Law passed not long ago, further encouraged more patients to seek treatment in Jordan. Medical tourism's contribution to Jordanian GDP is noteworthy; providing economic growth and employment opportunities. Though medical tourism received great recognition, little is said about specific concerns like the brain drain of health workers and incurring high costs on Jordanian citizens. This issue needs further attention.   Design/methodology/approach: This research employed qualitative analysis by conducting semi-structured, in-person interviews with ten Jordanian professionals who have an interest in the field of medical tourism. The interviewees included a health marketer, private hospital directors, a health policymaker, a health accreditation expert, a quality assurance manager, and health care professionals. The key participants responded to the same open-ended interview questions. The selected participants represent a diversity of facilitators involved in the medical tourism industry. Interviews were transcribed and correlated with the literature.   Findings: The competitive edge of Jordan in medical tourism arises from cost-effective health services, its renowned reputation in healthcare, and the diversity of touristic attractions. Most foreign patients that come to Jordan are from Arab countries. Jordan offers no language barrier and similar culture. The importance of medical tourism to Jordan is reflected in its contribution to the GDP by 3.5 percent or $1 billion. Little attention is drawn to some issues such as brain drain, high-incurring costs, promotional campaigns, medical inequality, and other pitfalls.   Practical implications: Health policymakers and health services providers around the globe with similar health systems have expressed interest in facilitating the growth of the medical tourism industry. They should encourage what reduces operational and medical risks that may accompany the medical tourism industry. This paper could provide a better understanding of medical tourism in Jordan as a hot spot in the world for medical tourism.   Social implications: Medical tourism can drive a robust social multiplier effect on a nation in terms of enhancing employment generation as well as fostering a culture of innovation and advancement in the field of healthcare and medicine.   Originality/value: The interviews and other secondary data sources help shed some insight into the current status and ramifications of medical tourism in Jordan.

Understanding EHRs continuance intention to use from the perspectives of UTAUT: practice environment moderating effect and top management support as predictor variables

This study attempts to comprehend factors influencing nurses' continuance intention to use electronic health records (EHR) system in Jordan since they as the key service providers in healthcare services are main users of the system. Their acceptance and usage of the system are imperative to evaluate the system's implementation success. A cross-sectional survey is conducted on the fully implemented EHR system public hospitals. Study framework is based on the extended model of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and top management support (TMS). Results reveal effort expectancy, performance expectancy and facilitating conditions positively influence nurses' continuance intention to use and top management support as significant and negatively related to nurses' continuance intention to use. Results also disclose relationship between social influence and continuance intention to use as not significant. Multi-group analysis result indicates stronger relationship between effort expectancy and continuance intention to use is evident to ward nurses than special unit nurses. Findings confirm on the necessity to support new technologies specifically EHR system in hospitals and contributes to UTAUT theory through revealing the impact of top management support on continuance intention to use and establishing relevant measurement accuracy of study framework in Jordanian context

Evaluating the D&M IS Success Model in the Context of Accounting Information System and Sustainable Decision Making

The Accounting Information System (AIS) is generally employed for the automation of operational processes and the enhancement of company efficiencies, but more recently, AIS developments have had a great effect on the process of sustainable decision-making among organizations. However, previous research on the AIS and its capabilities attributed its success to critical success factors. Therefore, in the current work, De Lone and Mc Lean’s Information System (D&M IS) Success Model is evaluated in terms of AIS in Jordanian organizations. The current study primarily aimed to determine the influence of system quality, service quality, information quality, system use and user satisfaction on AIS use, which is argued to eventually enhance the quality and sustainability of decision-making. The study employed a quantitative approach using a self-administered questionnaire for data collection involving 101 decision-makers who are familiar with AIS usage. Following the collection of data, it was validated using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)—PLS. Based on the obtained results, system quality and information quality significant affected system use, but service quality did not. In turn, AIS was found to have a significant effect on user satisfaction. Furthermore, system use and user satisfaction had positive effects on AIS, which eventually affected the sustainability of decision-making, representing the net AIS benefits. The study contributes to existing IS literature, particularly in the field of determining the factors that influence the AIS net benefits, with the proposed model validated in Jordanian organizations using AIS. The study can be used as a guide to shed light on the importance of AIS and it also provides implications, limitations and opportunities for future studies

A Change Management Approach to Promoting and Endorsing Ergonomics within a Dental Setting

Musculoskeletal pain and disorders (MSDs) constitute a well-recognised occupational hazard to the dental community. Fortunately, they are preventable. Dental office ergonomics plays a key role in addressing these musculoskeletal challenges. An ergonomic improvement project based on Kotter’s eight-step change model management theory was implemented within a dental practice. The project provided valuable evidence-based ergonomic interventions to prevent or reduce MSDs. The task force motivated staff to engage in strategies and interventions to enact an ergonomic vision. This case study represents an action plan to guide this ergonomic change. The key results of this project were an evidence-based ergonomics health promotional brochure, reduced sick leave attributable to MSDs, and workplace ergonomic checkpoints. The ergonomic change model represents an ongoing process where innovative trends and evaluative methods can be supported. Research limitations and practical implications were acknowledged

Risk of Fear and Anxiety in Utilising Health App Surveillance Due to COVID-19: Gender Differences Analysis

Although technology trends and acceptance have been considered crucial topics, limited research has examined stress-specific factors such as health anxiety in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic based on people’s attitudes toward a mobile health app using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Accordingly, this study primarily highlights the psychological determinants stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic that affect the usage of a mobile health app. The study followed a cross-sectional design and adopted a snowball sampling technique to collect the data. The findings showed a significant association between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and event-related fear and Tabaud App intention. The relationships between Tabaud App intention and COVID-19 anxiety on Tabaud App usage were also revealed. The study found a significant association between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Additionally, the multi-group analysis showed that only two paths related to Tabaud App intention, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, differed significantly between males and females. Additionally, women experienced anxiety disorders more than men. The study contributes to the previous knowledge on the field by examining the psychological determinants resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic that influence using a mobile health app, namely, event-related fear and COVID-19 anxiety. The study results may help governments, health policymakers, and health organisations in Saudi Arabia contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic

Patient Safety Attitudes among Doctors and Nurses: Associations with Workload, Adverse Events, Experience

Patient safety concept has achieved more attention from healthcare organizations to improve the safety culture. This study aimed to investigate patient safety attitudes among doctors and nurses and explore associations between workload, adverse events, and experience with patient safety attitudes. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design and the Turkish version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Participants included 73 doctors and 246 nurses working in two private hospitals in Northern Cyprus. The participants had negative perceptions in all patient safety domains. The work conditions domain received the highest positive perception rate, and the safety climate domain received the lowest perception rate among the participants. Nurses showed a higher positive perception than doctors regarding job satisfaction, stress recognition, and perceptions of management domains. There were statistically significant differences between experiences, workloads, adverse events, and total mean scores of patient safety attitudes. Policymakers and directors can improve the quality of care of patients and patient safety by boosting the decision-making of health care providers on several domains of safety attitudes. Patient safety needs to be improved in hospitals through in-service education, management support, and institutional regulations

Patient Safety Attitudes among Doctors and Nurses: Associations with Workload, Adverse Events, Experience

Patient safety concept has achieved more attention from healthcare organizations to improve the safety culture. This study aimed to investigate patient safety attitudes among doctors and nurses and explore associations between workload, adverse events, and experience with patient safety attitudes. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design and the Turkish version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Participants included 73 doctors and 246 nurses working in two private hospitals in Northern Cyprus. The participants had negative perceptions in all patient safety domains. The work conditions domain received the highest positive perception rate, and the safety climate domain received the lowest perception rate among the participants. Nurses showed a higher positive perception than doctors regarding job satisfaction, stress recognition, and perceptions of management domains. There were statistically significant differences between experiences, workloads, adverse events, and total mean scores of patient safety attitudes. Policymakers and directors can improve the quality of care of patients and patient safety by boosting the decision-making of health care providers on several domains of safety attitudes. Patient safety needs to be improved in hospitals through in-service education, management support, and institutional regulations

Actual Use of Mobile Learning Technologies during Social Distancing Circumstances: Case Study of King Faisal University Students

The most current highly infectious disease, which has become a global health challenge permeating entire sectors of society, is COVID-19. In the education sector, the transmission of COVID-19 has been curbed through the closure of institutions and the facilitation of online learning. The main objective of this study was to propose an integrated model of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology combined with the DeLone and McLean model, to examine the influence of quality features, namely, performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), facilitating conditions (FC), and social influence (SI), on the intentions and satisfaction of users toward mobile learning (m-learning) use in the context of Saudi learning institutions. The study obtained m-learning user data using an online questionnaire, after which the data were exposed to partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the proposed research model. The findings supported the influence of PE, EE, and FC on intention toward m-learning use but did not support the significant influence of SI. Moreover, system, intention, and user satisfaction were found to positively and significantly influence m-learning-system usage, with system, information, and service quality being top drivers of such user intention and satisfaction. The results reflect the required information concerning the strategies of higher institutions to enhance m-learning-system acceptance among students, with general implications for learning acceptance and usage

The Use of a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to Predict Patients’ Usage of a Personal Health Record System: The Role of Security, Privacy, and Usability

Personal health records (PHR) systems are designed to ensure that individuals have access and control over their health information and to support them in being active participants rather than passive ones in their healthcare process. Yet, PHR systems have not yet been widely adopted or used by consumers despite their benefits. For these advantages to be realized, adoption of the system is necessary. In this study, we examined how self-determination of health management influences individuals’ intention to implement a PHR system, i.e., their ability to actively manage their health. Using an extended technology acceptance model (TAM), the researchers developed and empirically tested a model explaining public adoption of PHRs. In total, 389 Saudi Arabian respondents were surveyed in a quantitative cross-sectional design. The hypotheses were analysed using structural equation modelling–partial least squares (SEM-PLS4). Results indicate that PHR system usage was influenced by three major factors: perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), and security towards intention to use. PHR PEOU and PHR intention to use were also found to be moderated by privacy, whereas usability positively moderated PHR PEOU and PHR intention to use and negatively moderated PHR PU and PHR intention to use. For the first time, this study examined the use of personal health records in Saudi Arabia, including the extension of the TAM model as well as development of a context-driven model that examines the relationship between privacy, security, usability, and the use of PHRs. Furthermore, this study fills a gap in the literature regarding the moderating effects of privacy influence on PEOU and intention to use. Further, the moderating effects of usability on the relationship between PEOU, PU, and intention to use. Study findings are expected to assist government agencies, health policymakers, and health organizations around the world, including Saudi Arabia, in understanding the adoption of personal health records

Knowledge sharing behaviour among head nurses in online health communities: The moderating role of knowledge self-efficacy

Background Head nurses are vital in understanding and encouraging knowledge sharing among their followers. However, few empirical studies have highlighted their contribution to knowledge-sharing behaviour in Online Health Communities (OHCs). In addition, scant literature has examined the moderating role of knowledge self-efficacy in this regard. Purposes This study examines the moderating role of self-efficacy between the association of four selected individual factors of head nurses (i.e., Trust, Reciprocity, Reputation, and Ability to Share) and their knowledge-sharing behaviour in OHCs in Jordan. Method The data were obtained by using a self-reported survey from 283 head nurses in 22 private hospitals in Jordan. A moderation regression analysis using a structural equation modelling approach (i.e. Smart PLS-SEM, Version 3) was utilised to evaluate the study’s measurement and structural model. Results Knowledge self-efficacy moderates the relationship between the three individual factors (i.e., Trust, Reciprocity, and Reputation) and knowledge-sharing behaviours. However, self-efficacy did not moderate the relationship between the ability to share and knowledge-sharing behaviours. Implications This study contributes to understanding the moderating role of knowledge self-efficacy among head nurses in online healthcare communities. Moreover, this study provides guidelines for head nurses to become active members in knowledge sharing in OHCs. The findings of this study offer a basis for further research on knowledge sharing in the healthcare sector