Development of Home Isolation Care Application System for COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

The objective of this Mixed Methods study was to develop a home isolation care application system for COVID-19 patients in Sikao hospital, Trang Province. The study was conducted between December 2021 and January 2023. Two groups of target samples, including: (1) 15 healthcare workers for model development process, and (2) 395 healthcare workers and patient participants, and 3,062 COVID-19 report forms for evaluation process were recruited. Systematic sampling method of participant recruitment was performed. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected by focus group discussions, observations, and in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation, One Sample T-test, Independent-t-test, One-Way ANOVA and Content analysis.

The study results revealed that the 3 main dimensions (3S) of the developed home isolation system for COVID-19 patients in this study were presented as follow: (1) Service: LINE Official Account, personal line, and DOCTOR A to Z applications, telephone, and patient’s chart, (2) Structure: Connection Patient – Hospital, Home based with referral system, Quality and Safety, and (3) Staff: Multidisciplinary medical team. After the home isolation care system development, quality service assessment score for home isolation care system of patient participants (Mean=4.11±0.56) and healthcare worker participants (Mean=4.25±0.66) were observed at the high level. Statistical differences in quality service assessment scores among ages groups, and marital status were found at the significant level 0.05 (p=0.046, and 0.007, respectively). There was no difference in quality service assessment scores between patient participants and healthcare workers groups (p=0.261). In addition, Mean scores of quality service assessments were significantly higher than the target values. (p<0.001). These findings indicated that a home isolation care application system could truly benefit to patients and healthcare personnel. This home isolation system can be developed and applied to other target groups. However, the system can be expected to vary across regions due to differences in origin and cultural diversity.