Sara Shoman

and 3 more

Background: Telehealth is delivering health care services remote from healthcare facilities using telecommunications and virtual technology. Egypt is aiming to reach Universal Health Coverage; this increases the demand of telehealth in routine health services. Telehealth benefits are increasing access to expertise in difficultly reached geographical areas with no available medical teams and may be used as fast first aid. It could also minimize costs of hospitals, as patients can be monitored remotely even from home. As for barriers, especially in developing countries, are the unavailable infrastructure and the resistance of patients. Objective: To measure the awareness of telehealth among attendees of primary health care units and their acceptance of application of telehealth. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study among attendees of primary health units. A sample size was calculated to be 162. A valid Arabic interview questionnaire was designed, and 170 questionnaires were filled by attendees. Ethical issues were considered. Results: Awareness percentage of telehealth among attendees was 64.7% while willingness to implement telehealth was 78%. Both awareness and willingness were significantly associated with age groups, residence, socioeconomic status and presence of computer with net access. Conclusion: It is concluded that a large percentage of attendees to primary health care centers are aware of telehealth and are willing to implement it. The major cause of refusal to implement telehealth was due ignorance of using telecommunication devices and the desire to be in close contact with the physicians.

Shaimaa Fouad

and 6 more

Silvana Nader Nagib

and 3 more

Background: Although chronic kidney disease (CKD) is considered the major cause of morbidity and mortality in hypertension, the recognition and prevention of CKD remain deficient. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is one of the major health challenges in Egypt. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects approximately 13% of the adult population, resulting in significant morbidity, mortality and health care costs. Patients with more progressive stage 3 or stage 4 CKD experience a high rate of cardiovascular events and death compared to earlier stages of CKD. Aim: This study was performed to determine the prevalence of chronic kidney disease among hypertensive non-diabetics patients attending Primary health care (PHC) Centers in Cairo. Methodology: The study type is a cross sectional study, Study setting: Two Primary Health Care centers (PHCs):Saraya El-kobba and El-Sharabya. Sampling method: Recruitment of participants was done in one day weekly. Any known essential hypertensive patients aged 18 or more registered in the two PHC Centers in Cairo. Results: The prevalence of CKD was 33% among the hypertensive non-diabetic patients. Among CKD participants, the prevalence is more common in females (59.7%) than males (40.3%),in those who completed primary education and the illiterates and low socioeconomic class. Surprisingly, it is more common in patients with positive family history of CKD and patients with ischemic heart disease and the antihypertensive drugs used. Conclusion: CKD has a high prevalence among hypertensive non-diabetic patients, and it has a significant morbidity and mortality among those patients.

Sara Shoman

and 3 more

Background: Telehealth is delivering health care services remote from health-care facilities using telecommunications. Egypt is aiming for Universal Health Coverage; this increases the demand of telehealth in routine health services. Objective: to measure the awareness of telehealth health care workers of primary health care units and to evaluate the effect of an orientation program on primary health care workers’ awareness and acceptance of application of telehealth. Methodology: This was an intervention study among health care workers. A self-administrated valid questionnaire for health care workers was designed, the questionnaire consists of different domains of knowledge in addition to advantages, disadvantages, security and necessity perceptions. Each domain consists of Likert scale questions of 5 points. The questions were scored as the worst answer (1) and the best (5). A total of 109 questionnaires were filled by participants who spent at least 6 months in primary health care units. Then the health care workers were attended an orientation program and the questionnaire was re-filled once more. A total of 104 was recollected. Ethical issues were considered. Results: 50.5% of health care workers were aware of telehealth; 66.7% of health care workers with master’s degree were aware of telehealth in comparison to 31.8% among those with a diploma, 64.3% of physicians were aware of telehealth while 9.6% of nurses were aware. The score of knowledge and attitude increased from 130±23.538 to 156.49±18.456 after the educational program. Conclusion: Half of health care workers were aware of telehealth; the orientation improved the Healthcare Workers’ knowledge and attitude.