RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess and explore the telehealth readiness of healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in a government healthcare facility in Saudi Arabia between August and October 2020. The Telehealth Readiness Assessment (TRA) tool was used. RESULTS: A total of 372 healthcare providers participated in this study. Their mean age was 35.5 years (SD = 10.46). The majority of respondents were female (65.6%), nurses (68.0%), married (60.2%), and non-Saudi nationals (64.2%). The analysis shows that healthcare providers generally had moderate-to-high telehealth readiness. Of the five domains, financial contributions had the lowest rating among nurses and physicians, 63.4% and 66.1%, respectively. Gender (ß = 7.64, p = 0.001), years of experience in the organization (ß = 11.75, p = 0.001), and years of experience in the profession (ß = 10.04, p = 0.023) predicted the telehealth readiness of healthcare providers. CONCLUSION: The telehealth readiness of healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia showed moderate to high levels. The COVID-19 pandemic poses a catastrophic threat to both patients and healthcare providers. Assessing telehealth readiness should include both patients and healthcare provider factors. A better understanding of the factors of organizational readiness, particularly healthcare providers, could help avoid costly implementation errors.
RESUMEN
The study aimed to assess the teamwork and safety attitudes among the critical care unit (CCU) nurses in Saudi Arabia. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in public tertiary hospitals in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia. All participants answered a three-part questionnaire that included demographic data, a teamwork attitude questionnaire (T-TAQ), and the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). The analysis revealed that the majority of the nurses were female, n = 52 (76.5%), and almost half of the nurses were aged from 29 to 39 years, n = 29 (42.6%). Teamwork attitude values are found to be relatively stable in all subscales, ranging from 1.63 (SD = 1.23) to higher at 2.92 (SD = 1.32). Of the six dimensions of SAQ, job satisfaction (M = 70, SD 21.46) had the highest positive rate and was approached with a positive attitude, followed by teamwork (M = 66.09, SD 15.12) and safety climate (M = 67.11, SD 17.70). The analysis also shows work experience was the influencing factor of teamwork attitude and safety attitude of nurses, recording beta values of 0.24, p < 0.05 and 0.10, p < 0.001, respectively. The results also identified an association between teamwork and safety attitudes. The study reflected the positive attitudes towards teamwork and less positive attitudes toward patient safety among critical care nurses in Saudi Arabia. Collaborative team performance among nurses improves the medical care quality and patients' safety, decreasing the occurrence rate of adverse events.