Background:The nature and functions of e-health services are expanding rapidly and have the potential of not only improving health, but also to reduce health care costs, enhance scientific understanding of health issues, increase equity of health care, and improve communication between health care providers and patients. Objectives: The aim of the present study is to highlight e-health knowledge, attitude and practice among health care providers in Kuwait. Methods: This study was carried out in the 6 general hospitals during 2015 -2016. 438 health care workers who agreed to participate in the study were asked to fill a predesigned questionnaire that included information regarding sociodemographic characteristics, computer and internet experience as well as knowledge, attitude and practice regarding ehealth. Results: 99.5% of health care participants are users of the internet, 98.2% of them used it for seeking health information. Their e-health attitude percentage score (68.8 ± 10.7) was higher than both knowledge (58.9 ± 24.2) and practice (59.2 ± 20.3) scores. Conclusion: There is a gap between participants' attitude which was generally positive on one side and their knowledge and practice of e-health that were generally moderate on the other side.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate physicians’ perceptions of electronic prescribing in Kuwaiti primary healthcare centres. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between June and August 2017 among 368 physicians from 25 primary healthcare centres in Kuwait. Data were collected from the participants using a self-reported questionnaire, including sociodemographic characteristics, previous experience with computers and awareness, knowledge and use of e-prescribing systems and their functional features. In addition, perceptions of the benefits and levels of satisfaction associated with e-prescribing were explored. Results: A total of 306 physicians completed the survey (response rate: 83%). The majority had positive perceptions regarding the use of e-prescribing, particularly in terms of time-savings (86%), healthcare quality (84%), productivity (80%) and clinical workflow and efficiency (83%). However, many respondents indicated that e-prescribing systems required additional improvements in terms of functionality. Conclusion: Most physicians in primary healthcare centres in Kuwait recognised the importance of e-prescribing to improve the quality of patient care, streamline workflow, increase productivity and reduce medical errors. However, there is a need to improve the design and infrastructure of e-prescribing systems, which may aid in the adoption of such systems in Kuwait.Keywords: Computer-Assisted Drug Therapies; Electronic Prescribing; Electronic Medical Records; Physicians; Primary Healthcare; Kuwait.

Background: Patient's autonomy is an imperative issue in the health service field. It is a known fact that patient's awareness and understanding of legal and ethical issues related to the consent process is often limited. Adequate information before a surgical procedure is fundamental to give informed consent. Information should include a description of the benefits, risks and complications of the intended procedure as well the alternative treatment options. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare patients in public and private hospitals of Kuwait as regards their understanding of legal implications, view about the scope, value and function of consent form during the clinical practice. Methods: A comparative descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in 6 public and 2 private hospitals from January to June 2016 in the state of Kuwait. A total of 910 patients aged 18 years old and above admitted to the surgery departments in the selected hospitals were invited. Structured self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the patients hospitalized in the selected departments of Kuwaiti hospitals. The questionnaire was pilot-tested prior to being finalized. Statistical analysis for the achieved data was done. Results: Of 910 patients, 805 (88.5%) completed the questionnaires. Patients in public hospitals were 584 (72.5%) while those in private hospitals were 221 (27.5%). Significantly higher proportion of patients in private hospitals were in the view that signing the consent form is a legal requirement (88.7%). Significantly more private sector patients agreed that signing the consent form means that all exactly are present in the consent form (91.0%), and the doctor cannot do anything different from what was on the form unless it is lifesaving (82.4%). More patients in private sector hospitals agreed about the statements that the consent form made it clear what was going to happen (79.6%) and the consent form gave the doctors control over what happened (72.9%). There were no statistical significant differences observed between patients in the two disciplines as regards their responses to the statements: the consent form is important (p = 0.167), the consent form made the patient aware of the risks of the operation (p = 0.520), the consent form made the patient wishes known (p = 0.393), the consent form prevents mix ups during the operation (p = 0.470), the consent form was just another piece of paper (p = 0.361), the patient just signed the consent form so he/she could have the operation (p = 0.053) and signing the consent form was mainly to protect the hospital (p = 0.049). Conclusion: Patients in public and private hospitals have limited knowledge of the legal implications of signing or not signing consent forms, indicates that consenting in its current form is not informed and should be reassessed in order to achieve patient autonomy. The policy and decision makers need to develop educational program towards inform consent.

Background: Patient satisfaction is one of the essential determinants and indicators of the quality of health care and services delivery. Evaluation of patient satisfaction is considered an emergency department goal. Objective: The objective of the current study was to evaluate patient satisfaction with the emergency department in Kuwait governmental general hospitals. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January to March 2016 in all governmental general hospitals located in different governorates of Kuwait state. A systematic random sample of patients attending the emergency departments of these hospitals taking every 10 th patient was selected to participate in the study. The 20-item-satisfaction questionnaire of the Press Ganey Institute was used as a tool for data collection. Totally, 713 patients were enrolled in this study. Results: The data indicated that more than half of the subjects in this study were males (53.7%) and 46.3% were females. The minimum age of subjects was 18 years and the maximum 86 years, with an average value of 37.1±15.3 years. The overall satisfaction with emergency services was 58.4%, although 18.9% were dissatisfied. Items with high level of satisfaction included: Concern the nurse showed for doing medical orders (67.2%), physician's courtesy and behavior with the patients (66.6%), provider's efforts to get the patients involved in making decisions about their own treatment (60.7%), security guards' courtesy (60.3%) and nurses' courtesy with the patients (66.5%). The lowest level of satisfaction refers to the following items: Comfort and pleasantness of the waiting area (48.0%), waiting time for the first visit (46.4%), and overall cleanliness (55.8%). The data indicated that females were significantly more satisfied than males regarding courtesy of staff in the registration area (P=0.028), courtesy of security staff (P=0.001), courtesy of staff who transfer the patients (P=0.014), friendliness/courtesy of the care provider (P=0.019), concern the care provider showed for questions or worries (P=0.006), instructions the care provider gave about follow-up care (P=0.019). On the other hand, overall satisfaction with cleanliness was higher among males (P=0.012). Conclusion: The study findings indicated that giving services to emergency clients was relatively agreeable. However, interventions are needed in some areas such as waiting area, length of waiting before examinations, amount of time physicians spend with patients and frequency of being visited by physicians. Time of visit and gender differences did not have a profound impact on satisfaction level.

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