Background: Due to technological advancements, the demand for easily accessible and convenient healthcare services is rising globally. Thus, telehealth is gaining momentum that was previously unheard of. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) actively embraces digital innovation in the healthcare industry through its ambitious Vision 2030 initiative. This study aimed to assess the perceived usability of telehealth for personalized healthcare among the KSA adult population in the post-COVID-19 era. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a convenience sample of 975 adults from the general population in KSA. A digital survey was used for data collection through Survey Monkey software. It contained two sections: personal and health data and the Telehealth Usability Questionnaire (TUQ). The data was collected over three months (July–September 2024) and investigated using the multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: This study showed that 59.8% of the participants have initiated telehealth service use before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the most frequently used services are the issuance of sick leave (30.6%), tele-prescription (29.0%), virtual consultation (20.0%), tele-mental health services (19.4%), telemonitoring (18.6), and tele-referral (18.2%). A high total telehealth usability score was observed among 60.4% of the participants: 72.7% perceive telehealth as highly useful, 76.4% perceive it as easy to use, 60.1% have high satisfaction and intention for future use, 57.4% perceive high interface quality, and 51.8% perceive a high interaction quality. Conversely, 45.8% perceive low reliability of the telehealth system. Multinomial logistic regression showed that low education (AOR = 2.04; 95% CI = 1.16–4.85) and using virtual consultation (AOR = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.38–0.99) were predictors of low telehealth usability. However, being female (AOR = 1.67; 95% CI = 1.27–2.55), being in higher education (AOR = 1.47; 95% CI = 1.02–2.34), and living in the central KSA region (AOR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.10–2.23) were predictors of high telehealth usability. Working status, income, and presence of chronic disease were not statistically significant predictors. Conclusions: Telehealth services have been highly usable in KSA even before the COVID-19 pandemic, with commonly used asynchronous services. Many social, technological, and system-related factors could affect the user experience and system reliability. Hence, telehealth developments are recommended to overcome such barriers, with future initiatives focusing on the flexibility and convenience of telehealth systems.

Background: Hospital readmissions among pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD) patients significantly strain healthcare systems. In Saudi Arabia, limited research has ex-plored the role of bone marrow transplant in reducing recurrent emergency and inpatient readmissions among children with SCD. This study investigates the impact of bone mar-row treatment on post-discharge readmission rates using a multi-episode survival framework. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using electronic health records from 2015 to 2023 of children aged ≤11 years diagnosed with SCD across multiple hospitals in Saudi Arabia. A multi-episode survival analysis based on the Andersen-Gill model was employed to evaluate the effect of bone marrow transplant on readmission rates up to 30, 90, 180, and 365 days following the first emergency or inpatient discharge. Patients were categorized into treatment (received bone marrow) and control groups, ad-justing for demographic, clinical, and healthcare system-related covariates. Results: The study included 234 patients. Bone marrow transplant significantly reduced the hazard of emergency readmissions within 365 days (HR=0.16; 95% CI: 0.06–0.44), while increasing the hazard of inpatient readmissions (HR=5.56; 95% CI: 3.03–11.11), possibly due to short-term immunosuppression post-transplant. Additional risk factors for higher read-mission rates included greater prior-year emergency visits, SCD related complications, and healthcare facility type. Conclusions: Bone marrow transplant appears effective in reducing emergency readmissions in pediatric SCD patients, though it may increase short-term inpatient admissions. Findings underscore the importance of targeted post-transplant care and inform healthcare policy on effective interventions for reducing readmission burdens in Saudi Arabia.

(1) Background: In Saudi Arabia, a high-income country with a publicly funded healthcare system, sickle cell disease (SCD) remains a major pediatric health challenge. This study aimed to identify factors associated with healthcare utilization, specifically inpatient (IP), outpatient (OP), and emergency department (ED) visits, among children with SCD in Saudi Arabia. (2) Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted using data from the KAIMRC registry (2015-2023), including 450 children under 12 years old diagnosed with SCD. Negative binomial regression models were employed to analyze the annual average visits, accounting for clinical, demographic, and regional healthcare resource variables. (3) Results: Key predictors of IP visits included complication count, crisis episodes, and region (eastern, western, and southern regions had higher utilization than central). ED visits were positively associated with complications, crisis episodes, and hydroxyurea use, but negatively associated with bone marrow transplant receipt. OP visits increased with higher Charlson Comorbidity Index scores, age, and bone marrow transplant, but were lower in the eastern region. (4) Conclusions: These findings highlight the influence of clinical and regional factors even within an equitable, high-resource healthcare system.

Background: Intestinal parasitic infection is widespread worldwide and a serious public health problem. It is responsible for enormous morbidity and mortality around the world, particularly in developing countries. Artificial intelligence can create therapeutic suggestions that are individually tailored to each client’s unique traits. This study aimed to develop an intelligent system for mothers to provide future recommendations for more effective interventions to combat intestinal parasitic infections. Methods: A quasi-experimental research design (pre/post-test) was utilized to achieve the aim of the current study. The study was conducted at Dar Al Salam Family Health Center in Cairo Governorate, Egypt. A purposive sample of 200 mothers was included in this study. Two tools were used for data collection: First tool: Structured knowledge questionnaire that has four parts: Part I: Demographic data; Part II: Family history for intestinal parasitic infection; Part III: Home environment; Part IV: Mothers’ knowledge regarding intestinal parasitic infection. Second tool: Mothers’ reported preventive measures checklist. Results: There was a highly significant statistical difference in the mothers’ total knowledge level and total preventive measures regarding intestinal parasitic infection between pre and posttest. Moreover, there was highly significant statistical positive correlation between mothers’ total knowledge and total preventive measures at pre and post-test. The integration of large language model driven insights, quick engineering, and tailored treatments demonstrated favorable outcomes in enhancing mothers’ cleanliness routines. The novelty of this study lies in integrating K-Means clustering, large language models (GPT-4o), and prompt engineering to generate culturally tailored and behavior-specific preventive recommendations for mothers regarding intestinal parasitic infections. Conclusions: Preventive educational programs have a significant positive effect on improving mothers’ knowledge and preventive measures to combat intestinal parasitic infections. This study effectively underscores the significance of artificial intelligence-driven analysis and large language models in producing tailored suggestions to enhance mothers’ hygiene routines.