Ehab Kamal , Iman A. F. Aboelsaad , Yousra A. El-Maradny , Rasha Ashmawy , Nermeen Gawish , Ahmed K. Selem , Dina Fawzy Abd Elsadek , Khaled Abdelghaffar
{"title":"深入了解埃及远程医疗电子会诊服务的实施、利用和评估情况","authors":"Ehab Kamal , Iman A. F. Aboelsaad , Yousra A. El-Maradny , Rasha Ashmawy , Nermeen Gawish , Ahmed K. Selem , Dina Fawzy Abd Elsadek , Khaled Abdelghaffar","doi":"10.1016/j.hlpt.2024.100951","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Telemedicine has gained momentum in healthcare, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Egypt, a government collaboration introduced telemedicine in 2019 to transform healthcare delivery.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study provides an overview of Egypt's telemedicine initiative, focusing on its infrastructure, utilization, and perceived impact over three years.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A cross-sectional anonymous online survey of Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) physicians using telemedicine services was conducted. The survey estimated perceived cost savings and reductions in healthcare delivery wait times, along with identifying facilitators and barriers to telemedicine implementation. It captured sociodemographic characteristics and physician opinions on telemedicine benefits, including perceived face-to-face consultation costs and wait times. The descriptive analysis summarized these findings.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Egypt's telemedicine system includes 200 Distance Medical Diagnosis Units (DMDUs) across governorates. By August 2023, over 97,000 consultations were completed, with consultations tripling in 2023 compared to 2020-2022. Dermatology, internal medicine, and pediatrics were the most requested specialties, with tuberculosis and clinical pharmacy added in 2023. Responses from 214 physicians revealed that nearly 90% estimated external consultation costs under 1000 EGP (32.4 USD), compared to the free telemedicine consultations available to patients. For inpatient consultations, 35% reported waiting times of a day or less. Challenges included technical issues and patient acceptance.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The study offers insights for policymakers to optimize telemedicine services, improve healthcare access, and reduce disparities in Egypt, showing telemedicine's potential to enhance healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.</div></div><div><h3>Public interest summary</h3><div>Telemedicine has become a crucial tool in healthcare, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. In Egypt, a collaboration between government ministries launched a telemedicine initiative in 2019. This study explores its impact over three years, focusing on the benefits and challenges of telemedicine as perceived by physicians. The findings are based on a survey of 214 doctors from 21 governorates who use the Ministry of Health and Population's telemedicine services. Results showed that over 97,000 consultations had been performed by mid-2023, with specialties like dermatology and pediatrics in high demand. Most doctors reported significant cost savings for patients compared to face-to-face consultations. However, challenges remain, particularly technical issues and patient acceptance. The study highlights the potential of telemedicine to improve healthcare access and reduce costs, offering valuable insights for policymakers to optimize the system and promote better healthcare outcomes in Egypt.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48672,"journal":{"name":"Health Policy and Technology","volume":"13 6","pages":"Article 100951"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"An insight into the implementation, utilization, and evaluation of telemedicine e-consultation services in Egypt\",\"authors\":\"Ehab Kamal , Iman A. F. Aboelsaad , Yousra A. El-Maradny , Rasha Ashmawy , Nermeen Gawish , Ahmed K. Selem , Dina Fawzy Abd Elsadek , Khaled Abdelghaffar\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.hlpt.2024.100951\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Telemedicine has gained momentum in healthcare, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Egypt, a government collaboration introduced telemedicine in 2019 to transform healthcare delivery.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study provides an overview of Egypt's telemedicine initiative, focusing on its infrastructure, utilization, and perceived impact over three years.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A cross-sectional anonymous online survey of Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) physicians using telemedicine services was conducted. The survey estimated perceived cost savings and reductions in healthcare delivery wait times, along with identifying facilitators and barriers to telemedicine implementation. It captured sociodemographic characteristics and physician opinions on telemedicine benefits, including perceived face-to-face consultation costs and wait times. The descriptive analysis summarized these findings.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Egypt's telemedicine system includes 200 Distance Medical Diagnosis Units (DMDUs) across governorates. By August 2023, over 97,000 consultations were completed, with consultations tripling in 2023 compared to 2020-2022. Dermatology, internal medicine, and pediatrics were the most requested specialties, with tuberculosis and clinical pharmacy added in 2023. Responses from 214 physicians revealed that nearly 90% estimated external consultation costs under 1000 EGP (32.4 USD), compared to the free telemedicine consultations available to patients. For inpatient consultations, 35% reported waiting times of a day or less. Challenges included technical issues and patient acceptance.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The study offers insights for policymakers to optimize telemedicine services, improve healthcare access, and reduce disparities in Egypt, showing telemedicine's potential to enhance healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.</div></div><div><h3>Public interest summary</h3><div>Telemedicine has become a crucial tool in healthcare, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. In Egypt, a collaboration between government ministries launched a telemedicine initiative in 2019. This study explores its impact over three years, focusing on the benefits and challenges of telemedicine as perceived by physicians. The findings are based on a survey of 214 doctors from 21 governorates who use the Ministry of Health and Population's telemedicine services. Results showed that over 97,000 consultations had been performed by mid-2023, with specialties like dermatology and pediatrics in high demand. Most doctors reported significant cost savings for patients compared to face-to-face consultations. However, challenges remain, particularly technical issues and patient acceptance. The study highlights the potential of telemedicine to improve healthcare access and reduce costs, offering valuable insights for policymakers to optimize the system and promote better healthcare outcomes in Egypt.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":48672,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Health Policy and Technology\",\"volume\":\"13 6\",\"pages\":\"Article 100951\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":3.4000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-11-17\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Health Policy and Technology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221188372400114X\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Health Policy and Technology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221188372400114X","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
An insight into the implementation, utilization, and evaluation of telemedicine e-consultation services in Egypt
Introduction
Telemedicine has gained momentum in healthcare, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Egypt, a government collaboration introduced telemedicine in 2019 to transform healthcare delivery.
Objective
This study provides an overview of Egypt's telemedicine initiative, focusing on its infrastructure, utilization, and perceived impact over three years.
Methods
A cross-sectional anonymous online survey of Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) physicians using telemedicine services was conducted. The survey estimated perceived cost savings and reductions in healthcare delivery wait times, along with identifying facilitators and barriers to telemedicine implementation. It captured sociodemographic characteristics and physician opinions on telemedicine benefits, including perceived face-to-face consultation costs and wait times. The descriptive analysis summarized these findings.
Results
Egypt's telemedicine system includes 200 Distance Medical Diagnosis Units (DMDUs) across governorates. By August 2023, over 97,000 consultations were completed, with consultations tripling in 2023 compared to 2020-2022. Dermatology, internal medicine, and pediatrics were the most requested specialties, with tuberculosis and clinical pharmacy added in 2023. Responses from 214 physicians revealed that nearly 90% estimated external consultation costs under 1000 EGP (32.4 USD), compared to the free telemedicine consultations available to patients. For inpatient consultations, 35% reported waiting times of a day or less. Challenges included technical issues and patient acceptance.
Conclusion
The study offers insights for policymakers to optimize telemedicine services, improve healthcare access, and reduce disparities in Egypt, showing telemedicine's potential to enhance healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
Public interest summary
Telemedicine has become a crucial tool in healthcare, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. In Egypt, a collaboration between government ministries launched a telemedicine initiative in 2019. This study explores its impact over three years, focusing on the benefits and challenges of telemedicine as perceived by physicians. The findings are based on a survey of 214 doctors from 21 governorates who use the Ministry of Health and Population's telemedicine services. Results showed that over 97,000 consultations had been performed by mid-2023, with specialties like dermatology and pediatrics in high demand. Most doctors reported significant cost savings for patients compared to face-to-face consultations. However, challenges remain, particularly technical issues and patient acceptance. The study highlights the potential of telemedicine to improve healthcare access and reduce costs, offering valuable insights for policymakers to optimize the system and promote better healthcare outcomes in Egypt.
期刊介绍：
Health Policy and Technology (HPT), is the official journal of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (FPM), a cross-disciplinary journal, which focuses on past, present and future health policy and the role of technology in clinical and non-clinical national and international health environments.
HPT provides a further excellent way for the FPM to continue to make important national and international contributions to development of policy and practice within medicine and related disciplines. The aim of HPT is to publish relevant, timely and accessible articles and commentaries to support policy-makers, health professionals, health technology providers, patient groups and academia interested in health policy and technology.
Topics covered by HPT will include:
- Health technology, including drug discovery, diagnostics, medicines, devices, therapeutic delivery and eHealth systems
- Cross-national comparisons on health policy using evidence-based approaches
- National studies on health policy to determine the outcomes of technology-driven initiatives
- Cross-border eHealth including health tourism
- The digital divide in mobility, access and affordability of healthcare
- Health technology assessment (HTA) methods and tools for evaluating the effectiveness of clinical and non-clinical health technologies
- Health and eHealth indicators and benchmarks (measure/metrics) for understanding the adoption and diffusion of health technologies
- Health and eHealth models and frameworks to support policy-makers and other stakeholders in decision-making
- Stakeholder engagement with health technologies (clinical and patient/citizen buy-in)
- Regulation and health economics
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
