The Use of Telemedicine in Surgical Care: a Systematic Review.

INTRODUCTION: Telemedicine describes a healthcare service where physicians communicate with patients remotely using telecommunication technologies. Telemedicine is being used to provide pre-/postoperative surgical consultation and monitoring as well as surgical education. AIM: Our purpose was to investigate the broad range of telemedicine technologies used in surgical care. MATERIAL AND METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Science Direct were searched for available literature from inception to March 30, 2018 with no language restrictions. The search terms included: cell phones, telemedicine, telecommunications, video, online, videoconferencing, remote consultation, surgery, preoperative, perioperative, postoperative, and surgical procedures. Studies were included if they used telemedicine in surgery for pre-, peri-, or post-surgery periods, and if they compared traditional surgical care with surgical telemedicine. We excluded case series, case reports, and conference abstracts from our review. RESULTS: A total of 24 studies were included in our review. The study found that the use of telemedicine in preoperative assessment and diagnosis, evaluation after surgery and follow-up visits to be beneficial. Patients reported benefits to using telemedicine such as avoiding unnecessary trips to hospitals, saving time and reducing the number of working days missed. CONCLUSION: Telemedicine in surgical care can provide benefits to both patients and.

A cross-sectional content analysis of Android applications for asthma.

Providing patients opportunities for self-management and education about their disease, asthma applications designed for use on an Android operating system can have positive health outcomes across the range of demographics who use mHealth applications. This study provides a content analysis of freely available Google Android Platform Mobile Applications for Asthma. A list of applications was collected on 26 October 2014, using the search feature of the Google Play Android platform and using the words and phrases "Asthma," "Lung Function" and "Peak Flow." Each application was coded for its approach to asthma self-management, based on categories adapted by Huckvale et al., which are based on the Global Initiative for Asthma and the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program. The characteristics of the 15 asthma applications are described. Most of the asthma applications' primary function focused on patient self-monitoring and self-assessment. Using the HON Code, we found low health information quality across all asthma applications. Android asthma applications can have positive outcomes in helping patients as they provide opportunities for self-management and education about their disease. Future research should continue to monitor and evaluate the development and use of mHealth Asthma Applications. Based on these findings, and their indication of a gap in existing research, subsequent studies can continue to evaluate the development and use of mHealth Asthma Applications with increasing methodological consistency to improve the quality of in-app health information.

Web-based Health Educational Program in Saudi Arabia.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide an overview of a web-based health educational site created by the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Sources of data included two interviews with Saudi IT personnel, three health educators, and two medical consultants working at KFSH&RC. The interviews ranged between 45 minutes and 120 minutes. The KFSH&RC website was also searched for the type of health information content posted. Results show that the KFSH&RC web-based health educational site provides health information through a medical encyclopedia, a social networking platform, health educational links, and targeted health information for children, which includes tools such as games and coloring books. Further research is needed on the effectiveness of the KFSH&RC web-based health education site in terms of improving knowledge and changing behavior of Saudi patients. The study recommends that targeted web-based health education strategies should be developed to reach large rural populations which have inadequate computer skills and limited access to the internet.

Electronic Dental Record (EDR) Use in Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Study.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide an overview of the electronic dental records (EDR) systems used at National Guard Health Affair (NGHA) hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Different sources of data were collected between February 18 and March 16, 2014. Sources of data included interviews with key informants. Key informants interviews included one 30 minute interview with an information technology specialist working at NGHA; seven 30-40 minute interview with dentists working in both the NGHA hospital and affiliated NGHA Primary Healthcare Clinics (PHCs). Two dental ward clerks were interviewed for 30 minutes and two dental directors were interviewed for 1 hour each. Four main themes emerged as a result of the analysis of the data. The main themes that emerged centered on staff satisfaction and workload, incomplete information, missing files, and adoption of EDRs. There were several challenges identified with the use of EDRs in Saudi Arabia. The challenges related to resistance to use the EDRs by clinical staff; lack of computer skills by clinical staff; usability of the systems; lack of interest in using EDRs; and lack of a clear management change strategy. Moving forward, these issues should be addressed so that more EDRs are implemented in all healthcare institutions in Saudi Arabia.

Are Web-based Surveys the New Epidemiological Mode For Healthcare Research? - The Saudi Perspective.

Web-based surveys (WBS) are gaining popularity as simple, cost-effective and rapid tools for data collection in healthcare research. The purpose of this exploratory study is to summarize the role of website-based survey (WBS) in gathering data for epidemiological research and review challenges facing WBSs in healthcare research. Electronic search in related literature for advantages, characteristics and performance of WBS was conducted. Special focus was placed on WBSs use in the Saudi context. The results indicated that WBSs are being employed increasingly in Healthcare research because of their accessibility, rapidity, reduced cost, less need for human resources and elimination of human errors. However, Paper-based surveys still possess higher response rates, accuracy and are more applicable for probability-sampling methods. Selection bias favoring young, educated and professional participants is associated with WBSs. Most Saudi studies sampled either healthcare professionals or students as the target population. Challenges specific to WBSs include: accessibility, representativeness of sampled population and multiple responses/unintended participants. Although WBSs do appear to be a contemporary alternative to traditional paper-based survey tools, more research is needed to optimize their applicability in different cultural contexts and for diverse pools of participants.

Traumatic splenectomy in a cirrhotic patient with hepatitis C and alcoholic liver disease.

Non-operative management is the management of choice for haemodynamically stable patients with blunt splenic injury. However, coexistent liver cirrhosis poses significant challenges as it leads to portal hypertension and coagulopathy. A 52-year-old man sustained blunt abdominal trauma causing low-grade splenic injury. However, he was found to have liver cirrhosis causing haemodynamic instability requiring emergency laparotomy. His portal hypertension led to severe bleeding only controlled by aortic pressure and subsequent splenectomy. Mortality from emergency surgery in cirrhotic patients is extremely high. Despite aggressive resuscitation, they may soon become haemodynamically unstable. Therefore, traumatic splenectomy may be inevitable in such patients with portal hypertension and splenomegaly secondary to liver cirrhosis even in low-grade injury.

Krukenberg tumour arising from adenocarcinoma of the gastro-oesophageal junction in a 28-year-old female presenting as lower abdominal swelling mimicking an inguinal hernia.

Krukenberg tumours arising from gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinomas prior to the fourth decade are extremely rare. The authors present the case of a 28-year-old patient who was then 4 years of age, residing close to the Chernobyl nuclear reactor at the time of the nuclear disaster in 1986, and was found to have late-stage Krukenberg tumours from a gastro-oesophageal primary. Her presentation with right groin pain initially raised a suspicion of an occult groin hernia. Clinicians are reminded to delve deeply into the social history in their enquiries with Eastern European patients who present with unusual clinical features and were in utero, young and living in proximity to the nuclear fallout zone at the time of the incident.