Evaluation of home respiratory therapy delivered to patients in the Ministry of Health’s Home Medical Program (HMP) and administered through the Madinah HMP Center, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2013

Abstract

This was an evaluation of home respiratory therapy (HRT) services administered through the Madinah Home Medical Program (MHMP) Center of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Using a retrospective design and descriptive analyses, we analyzed 83 patient records for the clinical care received, outcomes, and patient satisfaction. We also assessed a subset from an economic perspective. Demographically, 72% were >60 years of age, 80% were female, and 90% were Saudi. Asthma accounted for 34% of the diagnosed respiratory diseases, followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (11%). Most patients (71%) required two or three respiratory modalities: 94% used oxygen therapy and 14% were on mechanical ventilation. A full 90% of HMP patients expressed a high level of satisfaction with the HMP overall care, and 43% saw an improvement in their condition. The MHMP lowered healthcare costs for HRT-receiving patients by decreasing the frequency of emergency room (ER) and outpatient visits by 50.8% from 59 to 30 visits. HRT administered through the MHMP Center improved clinical outcomes and increased patient satisfaction while reducing hospital utilization and associated costs. A prospective study is recommended to assess HMP services in comparison with hospitalization.

A Systematic Review of Evaluation Studies of Primary and Public Health Programs in Qatar and Other GCC Nations in Comparison with Studies Adopting the RE-AIM Framework

“…There were 6 articles exclusively evaluating programs conducted in Qatar [18][19][20][21][22][23], and 1 article that included a cross-national comparison of programs in Qatar as well as in the rest of the GCC region [24]. In the rest of the GCC, the literature reviewed included 5 programs from Kuwait [25][26][27][28][29], 1 from Oman [30], 12 from Saudi Arabia [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42], and 5 from the United Arab Emirates [43][44][45][46][47]. None of the articles reviewed covered programs conducted exclusively in Bahrain, although the country was included in 1 cross-national study [24].…”

The Portuguese Model of Home Respiratory Care: Healthcare Professionals’ Perspective

“…Home respiratory therapies (HRT), such as long-term oxygen therapy and home mechanical ventilation, are prescribed to improve the health-related quality of life of patients with respiratory disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, neuromuscular diseases, among others. HRT are one of the most important home healthcare services [1] and patients needing HRT are increasing [2]. This adds to HRT high complexity, characterized by the chronicity of the patient condition itself, the need of patients' and carers' training and the involvement of variety of healthcare professionals [3,4].…”