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This study examined the status and factors of postgraduate students' utilization of Web-based library and information services on output and outcome dimensions. During COVID-19, an online survey was conducted using stratified sampling, collecting 527 respondents from 20 Malaysian public universities. Library technology, support, and environment were the factors affecting WBLIS utilization. Each factor scored highly on usefulness, research support, and virtual space dimensions. Electronic databases were utilized heavily, and digital reference services were used the least. Most respondents' results, research skills and strategies improved with WBLIS utilization. Overall, the paper presents the descriptive findings to benefit academic libraries and universities.
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Organ transplant recipients (OTRs) are highly vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection and routine transplant consultations were converted primarily to virtual (VC) rather than face to face (F2F) from the outset of the pandemic. A similar strategy was adopted in our tertiary OTR dermatology clinic, but the implications of this on safe and effective skin cancer surveillance are uncertain. We audited clinical and patient experiences of our hybrid service with the aim of identifying the benefits and limitations of this approach, and improvements required to optimize a future hybrid VC-F2F model for skin cancer surveillance. All OTRs consultations held between 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 were identified through electronic patient records. Data collected included proportions and reasons for VC and F2F consultations, teledermatology requests, VC to F2F conversion rate, rates of skin cancer diagnoses and adherence to established follow-up protocols. All patients were invited to complete an online service evaluation. In total, 554 encounters (80.3% VC, 19.7% F2F) were recorded in 247 OTRs (42% with previous skin cancer). Of routine F2F consultations, this was patient preference in 17 of 109 (16%) and clinician-based risk assessment for the remainder. In 108 (25%) VCs, photographs were requested and received for 63%, of which 82% were adequate for diagnosis. Overall, 12% of VCs were converted to F2F and in 19 of 45 (42%) OTRs this was due to suspected skin cancer, which was confirmed in nine of 19 (47%). All other skin cancers were diagnosed in routine F2F consultations. Surveillance in 167 of 192 (87%) assessable OTRs adhered to established follow-up protocols. Of patients who responded to the online survey, 74% felt that there were benefits to VCs, but 41% expressed concern about the lack of skin examination and 57% reported little/no confidence in self-monitoring. Despite this, 59% expressed a preference to continue hybrid VC-F2F surveillance, with VC as routine and F2F consultation when required. Our audit provides preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness, safety and patient acceptability of a VC-F2F hybrid model for the delivery of OTR skin cancer surveillance. We did not identify major delays in skin cancer diagnosis, although not all patients have yet been seen F2F. Certain aspects of service delivery will require optimization. In particular, despite routine skin cancer education, many patients expressed concerns about self-monitoring. Programmes specifically tailored to address this need will be required, as will information technology support for some OTRs. With this information we are redesigning our service to incorporate a VC-F2F model for routine skin cancer surveillance and are evaluating the incorporation of a patient-initiated follow-up pathway.
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Background (Dr Rahul Patley, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry- Goldman Sachs project, NIMHANS) The Government of India announced the National Tele Mental Health Programme (Tele MANAS) in the Union Budget in February 2022 to handle the aftermath of mental health issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was launched on 10 Oct 2022 on World Mental Health Day as a 24X7 two-tier tele-mental health facility across India. Functioning of Tele Manas (Dr. Suchandra H H Assistant Professor of Psychiatry - Tele MANAS, NIMHANS & Dr C Naveen Kumar, Professor of Psychiatry, Principal Investigator of Tele MANAS, NIMHANS) A total of 51 Tele MANAS cells will be established across India to provide a broader range of mental health services (counselling, consultations, e-prescriptions, follow-ups, and linkages to in-person services) by various mental health specialists with five Regional Coordinating centres and 23 Mentoring Institutes. The NIMHANS function as the apex centre, NHSRC for resource mapping, and IIIT-B for technological support. Each Tele MANAS cell shall provide online services to callers through a trained counsellor and escalates to a mental health professional when needed. It also offers a linking service for inperson referrals to existing mental health resources. The curriculum of Tele MANAS (Dr Madhuri H Nanjundaswamy Assistant Professor of Psychiatry - Tele MANAS, NIMHANS & Dr Suresh Bada Math, Professor of Psychiatry, NIMHANS) The content of the curriculum includes components of training, manual preparation and accreditation courses for Tele MANAS Counsellors. The first edition of manuals were prepared and recently released by MoHFW. The training will be conducted in hybrid mode with both on-site and online components for Tele MANAS Counsellors. A selflearning module for counsellors is also planned. The concept of mental health in Tele MANAS (Dr Nileswar Das, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry- Goldman Sachs project, NIMHANS and Dr N Manjunatha, Additional Professor of Psychiatry, NIMHANS) Mental health in Tele MANAS is a spectrum concept that ranges from mental wellness to mental distress to mental illness. COVID-19 has increased mental distress exponentially compared to mental illness, emphasizing the need to focus on distress.
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Background: To augment traditional sources of health information at a time of reduced accessibility, a free online telepharmacy service was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: This study details the process of developing and operating an online telepharmacy service, analyzes its usage, and assesses users' health information-seeking patterns. Methods: The service utilized various platforms for receiving and processing queries, communication, and promotion. Submissions received from March 20 to May 31, 2020 were processed for analysis. Parameters analyzed were time patterns of query submission, response time, service feedback, user and patient demographics, and subjects of inquiry. Results: A total of 271 queries were analyzed. Query frequency decreased over time, consistent with relaxation of quarantine restrictions and increasing availability of information. Peak hours of query influx were outside typical business hours. The majority of users were from the general public (93.8%) and preferred to receive responses through text (61.2%). The majority of users from the general public belonged to the 15- to 25-year-old age group (41.1%) and sought information for oneself. Most submissions mentioned COVID-related topics. From the general public, there was greatest interest in drug indications and vitamins, supplements, and herbal products, and from healthcare professionals, in drug procurement. Users who provided feedback (n = 12) all expressed satisfaction with the service and the information they received. Conclusion: Transition to the "new normal" entails adopting alternative platforms to augment traditional sources of health information. An online telepharmacy service may be utilized to provide and clarify medication information as part of primary care.
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The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic seriously threatens people's lives and health all over the world. Public information service is an important way for the public to understand the pandemic development and pandemic prevention and control measures. However, more people become vulnerable rather than the typical vulnerable groups due to the pandemic encounter difficulties in accessing public information services. To better help vulnerable people during the emergencies, based on related vulnerable groups theory, this chapter identifies two types of vulnerable groups in China. It collects information from news, journal papers, conference papers and other relevant perspectives to examine the difficulties that vulnerable people have encountered. Moreover, this chapter puts forward some suggestions from the aspect of policies and regulations, technologies and information systems, service content, and operating mechanism of public information services to better meet the information needs of vulnerable people. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose: The rapid proliferation of digital devices, population aging, and acceleration of digital technology adoption due to the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the need for information education for older adults to prevent inter-generational conflicts and digital alienation. This study aims to analyze the information technology (IT) education programs provided to older adults by age group, considering their heterogeneity. Design/methodology/approach: This study identifies IT education programs provided by public institutions in Seoul and target age groups (50 and above) through a survey using triangulation, which were then sorted and summarized into 27 keywords. Correspondence analysis was conducted using the keywords derived for the programs and age groups. Findings: IT education programs in the age group 60 and above accounted for 75.2% of the programs offered, which increased to 90% when including those aged 55 and above. Particularly, the perceptual map created based on relationship correlations indicates which IT education program keywords matched each age group. The Seoul Metropolitan Government primarily offered these programs for older adults aged 60 and above, with 5–7.5 times more education programs for those aged 60 and above than for those aged 50 and above or 55 and above. Therefore, IT education must be more evenly provided to more diverse age groups among older adults to reflect the current situation. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by proposing a future direction for IT education of older adults. Moreover, it has implications for the direction of IT education to target various age groups in IT education programs, thus enabling older adults to effectively enhance their digital literacy skills during the rapid digitalization caused by COVID-19. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The article considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the marketing of tourist destinations. Particular attention is paid to the fact that COVID-19 has become a real challenge for tourism organizations around the world and forced them to significantly rethink their marketing plans and programmes in a market that will never be the same. The main goal of this research study is to examine the properties of tourism destination marketing in the context of COVID-19 and compile a list of practical recommendations for relevant government agencies and tourism organizations to implement effective and operational steps and effectively prepare marketing destinations for new realities. To quickly get out of the current situation in the field of destination marketing in the context of COVID-19, a number of proposals have been made that can be applied by the relevant government agencies and tourism organizations that specialize in tourism services in tourist destinations. In particular, it is proposed to provide marketing strategies for tourist destinations based on the possibility of addressing issues of epidemiological safety and hygiene for tourists who prefer to visit these destinations. Due to the rapid decrease in the availability of air travel, tourism organizations need to expand their activities by attracting more tourists to the markets of neighbouring countries and to the domestic market. Providing services to individual tourists and their families in the field of recreation in destinations is considered one of the ways to maintain and expand business in the new reality. Through the implementation of marketing communications (primarily through online services and social media), tourism organizations and companies need to more actively attract the younger generation to visit tourist destinations as a target group that is most actively returning to pre-crisis patterns of consumer behaviour and consumption of tourism services. It has been established that the active use of the latest digital technology (virtual tours, augmented reality, etc.) in the field of destination marketing is the most promising area, thanks to which the tourism sector will be supported and developed both during the pandemic and after COVID-19. Copyright © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.
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The article considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the marketing of tourist destinations. Particular attention is paid to the fact that COVID-19 has become a real challenge for tourism organizations around the world and forced them to significantly rethink their marketing plans and programmes in a market that will never be the same. The main goal of this research study is to examine the properties of tourism destination marketing in the context of COVID-19 and compile a list of practical recommendations for relevant government agencies and tourism organizations to implement effective and operational steps and effectively prepare marketing destinations for new realities. To quickly get out of the current situation in the field of destination marketing in the context of COVID-19, a number of proposals have been made that can be applied by the relevant government agencies and tourism organizations that specialize in tourism services in tourist destinations. In particular, it is proposed to provide marketing strategies for tourist destinations based on the possibility of addressing issues of epidemiological safety and hygiene for tourists who prefer to visit these destinations. Due to the rapid decrease in the availability of air travel, tourism organizations need to expand their activities by attracting more tourists to the markets of neighbouring countries and to the domestic market. Providing services to individual tourists and their families in the field of recreation in destinations is considered one of the ways to maintain and expand business in the new reality. Through the implementation of marketing communications (primarily through online services and social media), tourism organizations and companies need to more actively attract the younger generation to visit tourist destinations as a target group that is most actively returning to pre-crisis patterns of consumer behaviour and consumption of tourism services. It has been established that the active use of the latest digital technology (virtual tours, augmented reality, etc.) in the field of destination marketing is the most promising area, thanks to which the tourism sector will be supported and developed both during the pandemic and after COVID-19. Copyright © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.
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Augmented Reality (AR) is the overlapping of the real world and the virtual world. AR is an evolving technology, and its implementation opens up a new direction to multiple types of information access services rendered to the users. The digital library section of the central library IIT Kharagpur has a rich collection of several items like CD/DVD ROMs, Digital Scanners, and VR Devices. Library developed in-house WebAR programs using "ar.js” that support "three.js” and "A-Frame” for Augmented Reality rendering on the web. This study tried to evaluate web-based AR programs' performance on mobile devices with low-end hardware configuration supporting WebGL and WebRTC. We conducted quantitative research to find the performance of the web-based AR applications using the four independent variables, namely frames per second (fps), request animation frame (raf), load time (lt), entity object (eo). The paper is also helpful to the academic librarians who think about implementing augmented reality library services with no cost involved. The AR-based information service is beneficial to library users with new COVID norms1, as the user does not need to touch anything to get the information. Instead, it gets into his/ her mobile device.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the entire human race's routine and put a temporary halt to global interactions. This epidemic has also had a negative influence on academic libraries. This is one of the most serious consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic for academic libraries, particularly at Malaysia's Institute of Teacher Training. It also, predictably, gives libraries the potential to shift their traditional role in offering services by utilizing the most up-to-date technologies. The purpose of this study was to show how academic libraries use social media platforms to deliver library services, highlighting the importance of strong and structured collaboration to reach customers during this epidemic. At the same time to increase users in the virtual world, promote library services and activities in a more engaging way. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.
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BACKGROUND: The rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses has caused an increased number of community practitioners to care for this population. However, community practitioners report a lack of knowledge and confidence in treating these patients, resulting in unmet healthcare needs. The Extension of Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Autism model aims to address this through case-based and didactic learning to help guide community practitioners in providing comprehensive, best-practice care for ASD screening, diagnosis, and management of co-occurring conditions. Each ECHO session involves a case presentation followed by a list of recommendations generated by community participants and an interdisciplinary 'hub' team. While ECHO Autism has been shown to improve physicians' abilities to care for children with ASD in their practices, recommendations stemming from ECHO cases have yet to be characterized and may help guide future care. OBJECTIVE(S): To quantify and characterize the common categories within ECHO Autism Ontario case recommendations. DESIGN/METHODS: A content analysis of 422 recommendations from 61 ECHO cases was conducted to identify categories of recommendations and their frequencies. Three researchers independently coded recommendations from five ECHO cases, from which an original coding guide was developed. The researchers then independently coded the remaining cases and met regularly with the ECHO lead to modify and consolidate the codes and coding guide. From there, categories and sub-categories from the various codes were identified. Finally, the frequencies of each code and category were calculated. RESULT(S): Fifty-seven codes were included in the final coding guide and grouped into eight broad categories. Categories included: 1) diagnosis;2) concurrent mental and physical health conditions;3) referrals to allied health providers and other specialists;4) accessing community resources, such as parent and sibling support groups;5) providing education and guidance to physicians, patients, and families;6) management strategies such as nutrition, physical activity, and social skills;and 7) patient and family-centered care. A COVID-19 category was added, as many of the later recommendations were adapted to online service delivery. An analysis of the frequency of codes found that 1,384 total in-text codes were distributed amongst the various categories. The three highest frequencies of categories were providing general guidance and education (22%), accessing resources (16%), and referrals (15%). CONCLUSION(S): This is the first time recommendations from ECHO Autism have been characterized and quantified. Our results, particularly the most common category of providing general guidance and education about ASD, show there is still important work to be done with educating clinicians and families about aspects of ASD. Furthermore, findings from this study should inform Pediatrics residency programs about real-world knowledge gaps in ASD care, and may help create more tailored ASD training programs and educational materials.
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Introduction: A private university in Santos offers a free psychological service for assessing and intervening in chilhood psychological problems through a internship program which had to be delivered online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The interns were only allowed to attend their parents online, instead of their children. Objective(s): Evaluating this new online service is the aim of this work. Method(s): 24 parents of 34 children aged 4-10 years were attended by pairs or trios of 52 interns. The were modules made up of assessment, intervention and feedback, using different instruments such as interviews, screening questionnaires and the observation of 5-minute free play in domestic environment and of a family collage through a video recorded by parents. Feedback and intervention happened in various moments. The interns created a storybook using metaphoric narrative as a feedback tool in which a synthesis of the psychodiagnostic process and orientation was presented to the children. Result(s): There was progress and decrease or elimination of symptons in 19 of the 34 children. Among the children who did not improve, one of them did not present any difficulties;7 of them had many absences and the other 7 were referred to further assessment for reasons related to the complexity of their difficulties or a probable unsuitability of the online orientation. Conclusion(s): The orientation was helpful for 55,89% of the children, showing to be a valid alternative for families who do not have financial resources for attending private clinics or fail to access public health services or even during social distance measures.
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Introduction: Most research on COVID-19 effects has focused on the general population. Here we measure its impact on Dutch FACT and autism outpatient service users during both waves. Objective(s): This study aimed to: 1) investigate participants' mental health, 2) assess experiences with outpatient services, and 3) assess respondents' experiences with governmental measures in the Netherlands during the first and second wave of COVID-19. Method(s): Respondents (wave 1: n=100;wave 2: n=150) reported on mental health, experiences with outpatient care, government measures and information services in an online survey. Result(s): Findings demonstrate happiness was rated an average of 6 out of 10, 70% of respondents scored below average on resilience, positive consequences for mental health (ordered world, reflection time) during both waves were similar, and prominent negative consequences included decreased social interactions and increased or new problems regarding mental health and daily functioning from wave 1-2. Lifestyle changed in 50% in both waves, although only slightly attributed to the pandemic. Substance use during both waves hardly changed. Mental healthcare continuation was highly appreciated in both waves (75-80% scored >=7 on 10-point scale). (Video)calling was the most frequently mentioned positive care experience;missing face-to-face contact with care providers considered most negative. COVID-19 measures were less doable in the second wave. Vaccination willingness approximated 70%. Conclusion(s): Results show a nuanced, but clear picture of experiences during both waves. Continuation of services through telehealth was well-received. Monitoring of long-term impact is needed.
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Purpose The rapid proliferation of digital devices, population aging, and acceleration of digital technology adoption due to the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the need for information education for older adults to prevent inter-generational conflicts and digital alienation. This study aims to analyze the information technology (IT) education programs provided to older adults by age group, considering their heterogeneity. Design/methodology/approach This study identifies IT education programs provided by public institutions in Seoul and target age groups (50 and above) through a survey using triangulation, which were then sorted and summarized into 27 keywords. Correspondence analysis was conducted using the keywords derived for the programs and age groups. Findings IT education programs in the age group 60 and above accounted for 75.2% of the programs offered, which increased to 90% when including those aged 55 and above. Particularly, the perceptual map created based on relationship correlations indicates which IT education program keywords matched each age group. The Seoul Metropolitan Government primarily offered these programs for older adults aged 60 and above, with 5-7.5 times more education programs for those aged 60 and above than for those aged 50 and above or 55 and above. Therefore, IT education must be more evenly provided to more diverse age groups among older adults to reflect the current situation. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by proposing a future direction for IT education of older adults. Moreover, it has implications for the direction of IT education to target various age groups in IT education programs, thus enabling older adults to effectively enhance their digital literacy skills during the rapid digitalization caused by COVID-19.
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BACKGROUND: The Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team (IMPACT), a non-profit coalition of health professionals, used social media to improve COVID-19 vaccine access by 1) identifying vaccine access disparities for HCWs not affiliated with a large hospital systems and then creating vaccine clearinghouses/social media campaigns 2) identifying reasons for vaccine hesitancy and addressing them via infographics 3) connecting volunteers with local neighborhood/mobile events serving at-risk communities in the Chicagoland area. In January 2021, many large health systems were vaccinating employed HCWs (COVID-19 vaccine rollout Tier 1a). However, many HCWs not affiliated with large systems were unable to access the vaccine. Many of Chicago's hardest-hit communities were receiving vaccines at much lower rates than neighborhoods less burdened by COVID-19. METHODS: We created online clearinghouses with links to vaccine event sign-ups/waitlists and partnered directly with a local primary care organization to link HCWs to vaccines on Facebook. We partnered with health systems, community organizations, pharmacies and professional organizations to organize, promote, and staff community-based vaccine clinics/mobile vaccine units to a. To address vaccine hesitancy, we collected data on common myths using Facebook groups. We created 5 “debunking” infographics in both English and Spanish using climate science principles and also held 4 Facebook Live Q&As with Chicago-based Bump Club and Beyond. RESULTS: The HCW-specific vaccine information clearinghouse went live 1/4/2021 and had 7,829 views during the first 6 months. The general public vaccine clearinghousewent live on 1/25/2021 and had 21,279 views during the first 6 months. Facebook posts disseminating the HCW vaccination events reached >1650 HCWs within 7 days, and open/public Facebook group posts reached > 3.2K in 7 days. In the first 7 days of the campaign, >1800 HCWs were vaccinated. We registered >1700 volunteers to help staff 316 vaccination events in the Chicago-land area. Our COVID-19Myth Debunkers were shared over 200 times for >80K impressions. Our four vaccine-focused Facebook lives reached over 1000 people per session. CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare professionals can strategically leverage social media to identify public health challenges (vaccine hesitancy/vaccine access disparities) and address these challenges in real-time by disseminating tailored, high-quality information (ie. debunking infographics, Facebook Live Q&As, vaccine clearinghouses) and connecting community members and partner organizations with resources (ie. vaccination resources and volunteers).
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In this paper, we focus on the quality of information service (QoIS) of COVID-19-related information on social media. Our goal is to provide reliable COVID-19 information service by accurately detecting the misleading COVID-19 posts on social media by exploring the community-contributed COVID-19 fact data (CCFD) from different social media platforms. In particular, CCFD refers to the fact-checking reports that are submitted to each social media platform by its users and fact-checking professionals. Our work is motivated by the observation that CCFD often contains useful COVID-19 knowledge facts (e.g., "COVID-19 is not a flu") that can effectively facilitate the identification of misleading COVID-19 social media posts. However, CCFD is often private to the individual social media platform that owns it due to the data privacy concerns such as data copyright of CCFD and user profile information of CCFD contributors. In this paper, we leverage the CCFD from different social media platforms to accurately detect COVID19 misinformation while effectively protecting the privacy of CCFD. Two critical challenges exist in solving our problem: 1) how to generate privacy-aware COVID-19 knowledge facts from the platform-specific CCFD? 2) How to effectively integrate the privacy-aware COVID-19 knowledge facts from different social media platforms to correctly assess the truthfulness of a COVID19 post? To address these challenges, we develop CoviDKG, a COVID-19 distributed knowledge graph framework that constructs a set of CCFD-based knowledge graphs on individual social media platform and exchanges the privacy-aware COVID19 knowledge facts across different platforms to effectively detect misleading COVID-19 posts. We evaluate CoviDKG on two real-world social media datasets and the results show that CoviDKG achieves significant performance gains compared to state-of-the-art baselines in accurately detecting misleading COVID-19 posts on social media. © 2022 IEEE.
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Introduction Responding to COVID-19 restrictions and increasing demand, we introduced an online contraception service. Patients complete a comprehensive web-questionnaire which is subsequently assessed by a nurse who supplies a suitable method. This service is 'wholly-online' (excludes real-time interactions) however, some patients submit insufficient or ambiguous information and follow-up consultations are required. Aims - to determine the profile of patients using this service, their contraception choices and whether they achieved a wholly-online-service. to determine what factors prevented the wholly-onlineservice and what could be done to improve this. Methods Retrospective notes review of 100 consecutive patients in November 2021, noting: age, contraception requested, had they;watched our online video for chosen method, declared adequate blood pressure, height and weight measurements. Outcomes noted: patients receiving chosen method with a wholly-online-service, if not, what intervention followed (telephone/face-to-face) and reasons. Results Table-1 shows patient profiles. Table-2 shows outcomes of online requests. P89 Table 1 Method of contraception requested via online service P89 Table 2 Outcomes of online request Discussions 'Wholly-online' contraception was achieved in 26% of patients. An extra 6% required a clarification phone call before receiving contraception. An extra 27% attended for biometrics(height, weight, blood-pressure) before receiving contraception. 16% were ineligible, requiring face-to-face consultations for clinical or safeguarding reasons. This suggests - our 'wholly-online' service is meeting a demand, presumably because patients prefer going online in their own time, rather than scheduling an appointment. - a significant appetite for combined-oral-contraception online for those without biometric recordings. We will explore a hybrid service involving online requests and drop-in access for biometrics that could meet this demand, without challenging the capacity of our appointments services (Table Presented).
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Background Online sexual health services (e-services) are being increasingly used for STI testing. Reduced sexual health clinic capacity due to the Covid-19 pandemic prompted our regional e-service to widen eligibility and enable individuals with mild symptoms to access our service. Prior to placing a kit order, information was shown to all symptomatic service users, advising them of the benefits of attending a sexual health clinic and/or to attend a clinic if symptoms persist/worsen. Method A retrospective analysis was performed of service users that ordered a testing kit between March 2020, and December 2021. Kit return rates were compared according to symptom status. Results Of 888,619 kit orders 163,023 (18.3%) came from symptomatic users. The most common symptom reported was vaginal discharge (41.1%), followed by dysuria/frequency (18.4%) and itching (13.8%). The kit return rate among asymptomatic service users was significantly higher (79.3%) compared to symptomatic users (74.3%) (X2 6.04. p =0.01401). The highest return rates were seen among individuals with itching (75.8%), dysuria/frequency (75.7%) and vaginal discharge (74.6%). The lowest return rate was seen by individuals with genital lumps (71.2%). Discussion Significantly fewer kits were returned by symptomatic e-service users compared to asymptomatics. It is plausible the e-service advisory information deterred some users from returning kits, encouraging them to instead test at a clinic. However, many users opted to complete testing online or perhaps did so because of difficulty accessing a sexual health clinic. Further work is needed to explore the preferred modality of testing provider and the suitability of online services for symptomatic individuals.
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Objective: To identify the current practice parameters and apprehensions of medical fraternity. Methodology: This cross sectional survey was conducted by using online Google forms. A total of 119 participants completed the form and were included in the analysis. Brief questionnaire constituted of nine questions to explore current crisis and future apprehensions about non-COVID-19 patients. SPSS version 23 was used for data analysis. Results: Among 119 participants, majority (77%) were from Pakistan. Medicine and allied were in the highest number (67%) followed by surgical colleagues (18%). Around 41% reported to close their clinical services during pandemic and 69% started providing online services, including those (36%) who were providing both i.e. face-to-face and online. A significant number of physicians (72%) believed that non-COVID patients were suffering these days and around (76%) apprehended that patient’s health may have deteriorated due to lack of care. Conclusion: Care of non-COVID patients has compromised and immediate actions are needed to halt further decline. A separate place of care for COVID-19 patients, utilization of technology, home visits and gradual opening of OPDs with strict SOP compliance is needed.