Telerehabilitation Guidelines in Saudi Arabia.

Rehabilitation needs are increasing globally due to population growth, aging population, high survival rates for people with disability, and severe health conditions. In the past few years, new telecommunication-based practices, including various forms of e-rehabilitation have gained attention all over the world, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Telerehabilitation is an alternative way of delivering rehabilitation services in which information and communication technologies are used to expedite communication between the health care professional and the patient at a distant location. It can be beneficial to people in rural areas, especially individuals in isolated communities. At present, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced speedy adoption of telerehabilitation due to restricted traditional in-person visits all over the world, including KSA; however, no telerehabilitation guidelines are available in the country. Since specialized rehabilitation services are limited to main cities of the country, the provision of care by reaching out the underserved areas using telemedicine technology is deemed important. These guidelines were established collaboratively by panel of various rehabilitation experts with input from other practitioners in the field and strategic stakeholders. It will facilitate rehabilitation clinicians practicing in KSA providing consultation, counseling, education, assessment, monitoring, therapy, or follow-up to a patient remotely using telemedicine communication technologies. This document includes administrative, clinical, and technical guidelines, which are aimed to standardize telerehabilitation practice across the country. The core principles are based on standards set forth by American Telemedicine Association and are guided by telemedicine policy in KSA. Additionally, ethical considerations of telerehabilitation practice pertinent to Saudi culture and health care system are elaborated as well. This document serves as a general guide for the provision of telerehabilitation services and do not describe a specialty-specific clinical practice guideline.

Knowledge and Attitudes of Rehabilitation Professional Toward Telerehabilitation in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background: Continuity of rehabilitation care after completion of a hospital-based rehabilitation program remains a challenge. This is of considerable significance in Saudi Arabia where there is a lack of community-based rehabilitation, which renders the need of telemedicine services. There is lack of data regarding understanding, awareness, and attitudes of rehabilitation professional toward telerehabilitation. This study was aimed to explore Saudi-based rehabilitation professionals' knowledge of telerehabilitation. Materials and Methods: After pilot testing, a survey questionnaire was distributed to 82 rehabilitation professionals working in different regions of Saudi Arabia. The survey included 14 close-ended questions targeting five domains: demographics, telemedicine knowledge, telerehabilitation service knowledge, social acceptance of these services, and risks associated with these services. Descriptive statistics were obtained by analyzing data using Microsoft Excel. Results: In total 46% of the participants were aware of telerehabilitation service technology but did not use it. 69.51% considered both telerehabilitation and community-based rehabilitation as the best service delivery methods. About 43% of participants reported that lack of knowledge about information technology and cost were the main factors that led to their limited use of telerehabilitation systems. The majority of the participants (52.44%) considered breach of confidentiality to be a risk associated with telerehabilitation services. Conclusions: Even though considerable number of the participants considered telerehabilitation as an important service delivery method, most of them are not involved in telerehabilitation. This renders the need of establishing local telerehabilitation guidelines and addressing the barriers pertaining to training, resources, cost, policy making, confidentiality, and perception of patients.