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Background The consequences of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on healthcare systems worldwide are undeniably disrupting regularly provided care for non-COVID-19 patients. Since the start of the pandemic, medical services in Saudi Arabia have adapted to the situation by providing medical care through virtual clinics. This article aims to evaluate patient satisfaction with virtual clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients who had experience with the virtual clinics of Unaizah College of Medicine, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. An online questionnaire was sent to all participants who visited the virtual clinic between May 2020 and July 2020. The questionnaire included demographic data and 16 statements to assess patient satisfaction with the virtual clinic experience. Results A total of 123 participants completed the questionnaire. Their mean age was 33 ± 12 years; 61% were females and 39% were males. Most of the participants were from the Qassim region (77.2%), while 22.8% were from other regions in Saudi Arabia. Dermatology clinics were the most frequently visited virtual clinics, followed by psychiatry clinics. Most of the participants were satisfied with the virtual clinics, with average scores greater than three for most of the components of the questionnaire. Conclusions The participants showed considerable satisfaction for virtual clinics in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the service was relatively new to them. Future additional efforts will be needed to support clinically appropriate and acceptable virtual visits combined with in-person visits after the pandemic.
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OBJECTIVE: To describe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) features among Arab children, and compare with cohorts from different ethnicities. METHODS: This retrospective analysis of all published English literature on SLE in Arab children was conducted in March 2013. The percentage and frequencies of the clinical and laboratory features were collected, and compared between different Arab countries as well as Caucasian and South East Asian cohorts. RESULTS: A total of 560 children from 5 Arab cohorts with an average age at diagnosis of 10 years; 7.7% of patients were diagnosed before the age of 5 years. Familial SLE was frequent. Most patients had major organ involvement. Renal involvement was diagnosed in 80%, while neuropsychiatric manifestations were seen in 30%. Immunosuppressive agents were commonly used. Beta cell depletion was recently introduced for refractory cases. The outcome of the disease could not be determined from the available data. However, 145 out of 300 patients had disease damage (52.6% Saudi and 43.9% Egyptian) with mean of 1.3 for Saudi and 0.93 for Egyptian. Forty patients died during the disease course due to infections and severe organ disease. CONCLUSION: Systemic lupus erythematosus is common in Arab children, particularly familial SLE. The manifestations observed in Arabs are comparable with previous reports. However, there is a noticeable difference in the damage accrual and mortality rate between Arab and Canadian studies, which might reflect the disease severity.
