Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38573462›Full record

ArticleJournal of epidemiology and global health2024

Pattern of Virtual Consultations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An Epidemiological Nationwide Study.

Reem S AlOmar, Muaddi AlHarbi, Nijr S Alotaibi, Nouf A AlShamlan, Malak A Al-Shammari, Arwa A AlThumairi, Mona AlSubaie, Mohammed A Alshahrani, Mohammad K AlAbdulaali

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In one paragraph

Article in Journal of epidemiology and global health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. The Family Doctor in the "COVID-19 Era".Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Reem S AlOmarDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, 32211, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. rsomar@iau.edu.sa.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4899-7965
Muaddi AlHarbiThe Studies and Consulting Office at the Assistant Minister of Health, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Nijr S AlotaibiNational Program for Community Development - Tanmiah, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Nouf A AlShamlanDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, 32211, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Malak A Al-ShammariDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, 32211, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Arwa A AlThumairiDepartment of Health Information Management and Technology, College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Mona AlSubaieVirtual Hospital, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed A AlshahraniHuman Resources and Training Management, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammad K AlAbdulaaliMinistry of Health, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), little is known about the adoption of virtual consultations (VCs), with most studies being survey-based leading to varying results. This study aims to utilise secondary collected data on the use of both kinds of VCs currently available, and to epidemiologically describe the adoption of these consultations.

methodsThis retrospective study analysed data provided by the Ministry of Health between January 1st 2021 and June 30th 2022. For both the home-based and the hospital-based consultations, variables included the age and sex of patients, date of consultation, duration in minutes, closure status for the appointment and the governorate in which the patient is residing. A heat map was drawn to present patterns of utilisation across the country.

resultsThe total number of VCs for both types were 1,008,228. For both types, females were higher adopters (54.73%). Of the total number of consultations, 751,156 were hospital-based. Of these consultations, family medicine consultations were the most common (20.42%), followed by internal medicine. Maternity follow-up clinics were higher in home-based clinics. The proportion of patient no-shows was high overall (48.30%). Utilisation was high in urban governorates, and low in rural ones.

conclusionFindings have several implications on health policy. It provides further evidence of the importance of family medicine, where it was the most common speciality even in hospital-based settings. The high variability in the adoption of consultations across rural and urban areas as well as the extremely high number of patient-no-shows warrants further investigation.

Indexed as

Remote ConsultationAdolescentAdultAgedChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansInfantMaleMiddle AgedReferral and ConsultationRetrospective StudiesSaudi ArabiaTelemedicineYoung AdultEpidemiologyHealth care systemsPublic healthPublic health policyVirtual consultations

Identifiers

PMID38573462
PMCPMC11442709

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.