Palliative Care and Technology in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

Palliative Care and Technology in Saudi Arabia

Increase in usage of smartphones in the societies makes it possible to access healthcare information. People are increasingly using the devices. Moreover, these devices can become useful in improving palliative care through existing and new applications. The use of technology should provide an opportunity for teleconsultation, sharing data, reduce time patients wait and facilitate the start of treatment (Dhiliwal and Salins, 2015, p. 89). However, there is a need for healthcare facilities to improve awareness of the use of technology as a way of improving the health of people. Nonetheless, information from some of the sources using phones should not replace diagnosis and input of medical practitioners in cases of disorders. This study will aim at investigating the role of mobile apps in enhancing support in palliative care in Saudi Arabia. This study will also consider possible ways of making the technology offer more support to palliative care.

This study will have great significance for healthcare providers, palliative care patients and relatives of the patients. Healthcare providers will learn the role of technology in providing treatments and develop strategies for helping the patients. Results from the studies will also show the attitude of people towards adopting the use technology for palliative support. Palliative care patients and their families will learn the role of technology in providing needed support.

Literature Review

There has been increasing use of technology for communication in the past decade. The advent of smartphones marked the era where people can make applications that help in accomplishing some of the tasks without requiring computers. These smartphones also provide many ways of communication that people can choose. The increasing number of people owning the phones make it possible to use technology to accomplish most of the things. In nations such as the United States, over 63% own mobile phones (Theile, Klaas, Tröster and Guckenberger, 2017, p. 2). Saudi Arabia is the second largest market for phones in the Middle East (Albabtain, AlMulhim, Yunus and Househ, 2014, p. p. 11). Moreover, people also have an internet connection and use health apps. Studies also show that up to 84% of physicians in the United States use their phones for professional purposes (Zhang and Yeh, 2016, p. 341). Therefore, more people in the societies need to engage physicians using technology to get timely assistance.

In the recent past, people have used technology as a way to improve their access to health care (Dhiliwal and Salins, 2015, p. 82). The use of smartphones aim at improving diagnosis, enhance service delivery, ensure timely treatment and provision of support in health programs. The modes of communication that patients prefer are those that safeguard their privacy, provide accurate results to recipients. The use of technology to enhance palliative care can also become useful and complementary in nations that use electronic medical records. These systems allow the people to access their information from any place as long as they have login key and password. Moreover, healthcare facilities can also use e-communications such as e-mail, WhatsApp and short message service (SMS) to communicate with the patients.

Studies have shown the use of technology can help in reducing rates of readmissions among palliative care patients (Theile, Klaas, Tröster and Guckenberger, 2017, p. 1). The professionals in the healthcare facilities often lose some of the follow-ups after the patients leave the hospitals. Such situations often lead to high rates of readmissions and visits to the emergency departments. Most of these readmission cases are avoidable. It requires effective communication with medical practitioners that can utilize technology. In some cases, people in western societies even use technology to track physical activity of the patients. Nonetheless, there is a need for application designing team to consist of the medical practitioners so that the apps also meet their requirements (Lindley, Zhou, Mack and Li, 2014, p. 2). The applications must offer an interface for communication and provide information required to support palliative care patients.

Saudi Arabia is one of the developing nations that people are already using mhealth apps. The applications aim at improving access to healthcare information and services even in rural areas. The increasing ownership of phones in Saudi Arabia can make the use of mhealth apps effective way of improving quality of people’s health (Albabtain, AlMulhim, Yunus and Househ, 2014, p. 11). The use of technology can help in halting the spread of communicable diseases and encourage healthy behaviors. Thus, application of findings of studies from other regions will encourage the use of mobile applications to improve quality of health in societies in Saudi Arabia.

However, there are limited studies to show the role of technology and percentage of people using the mhealth apps for support in palliative care. People may be owning phones but fail to use them for getting medical support. Moreover, limited studies investigate the effectiveness of using this mobile technology in providing proper support for palliative care.

Method and Design

The study will involve the collection of quantitative and qualitative data from the participants. Quantitative data will show the numbers of people who have mhealth applications on their phones. Besides, the study will also capture people who use other forms of communication using technology to get assistance for palliative care. Data from the study will also cover some participants who believe that the use of technology is effective in providing support palliative care. Information collected will also show how technology provides support to palliative care patients. The use of quantitative method will be effective in showing the extent to which technology affects the health of people in the Saudi Arabia societies.

The study will use descriptive study design. The results will explain the role of using technology and its effectiveness in supporting palliative care. The results will show the types of phone usage that people prefer in supporting palliative care patients.

The study will involve random selection of patients that require palliative care from four healthcare facilities in Saudi Arabia. Researchers will aim at getting a minimum of 120 patients and 30 medical providers to obtain information needed in the study. Patients that do not require palliative care will be excluded from the study. The study will require a minimum of three months to complete. The researchers will collect the information by first recruiting the participants and ensuring they meet requirements. The researcher will use interviews to collect information from the care providers. Investigator will ask the medical professionals about how the patients use technology to obtain health information from them. The researchers will then record the information. Investigators will also ask about the type of assistance palliative patients obtained using technology. Moreover, researchers will ask about readmission of these patients even those not using technology. The patients will fill an online questionnaire about their use of technology to obtain assistance.

Results from the study will show the percentage of people using technology for support in palliative care. Moreover, the study will show various roles that people accomplish while using technology in caring for these patients in Saudi Arabia. The difference in the readmission rates among patients using technology and those that do not use technology will show the possible effectiveness of the apps in improving the health of people.

Interview Questions

• What are the ways patients contact you using communication technology
• What are the trends in using mobile technology for medical purposes by palliative care patients?
• What kind of information do people want through the use of technology?
• What is the possible hindrance to using technology by patients in gaining medical information?
• Do you think the information obtained from technology can improve the health of patients in palliative care?
• How could the use of technology affect the rates of readmissions?
• What are the possible ways of improving the use of technology for health purposes in the Saudi Arabian societies?

Questionnaire for Patients

• How often do you use technology to get medical information?

Never□Rarely□Moderately□frequently□

• Do you have difficulties gaining medical information from medical providers?

Yes□No□

• Do the medical providers give the information you always need?

Yes□No□Not sure□

• Do you think the information from technology improve your health?

Yes□No□

• Do you only contact care providers from health facilities you get medical services?

Yes□No□

Analysis of the Results

The researchers will ensure that the data is complete and able to provide a conclusion that is not biased. It will involve finding out if the investigators recorded all the possible results from the respondents. Researchers may be forced to eliminate the contributions of some participants if records of their data are incomplete. The initial step will involve data entry then the classification of the data into categories based on those who use technology and palliative care patients who do not use it for support purposes. The initial data will show the penetration of technology usage in support for palliative care. The analysis will further classify the data based on the roles of technology in supporting the palliative patients. Patients can use one or more support elements as a way of improving their health.

The results will show the distribution of people on the use of technology in supporting palliative care. Researchers can use the graphical representation such as pie charts to elaborate the usage of technology. Information from the study will confirm the roles and effectiveness of using technology among palliative care patients. The results can then be compared to other studies to analyze any variations.