Development of a Service Model for Diabetes Mellitus Patients using Telemedicine systems at Tha-Uthen Hospital Nakhonphanom Province

Abstract

     The purposes of this action research were: 1) to study the current situation and needs for the development of a service model for diabetes patients, 2) to develop a service model for diabetes patients using the telemedicine system, and 3) to evaluate the developed the service model. The sample comprised 37 diabetes patients were selected by purposive sampling. The research instruments were used. (1) Focus group discussion questions was used with health care providers to ask about the current services and the working situation, In-depth interviews with public health volunteers and diabetes patients. Questionnaires were used for evaluating satisfaction with the application of the new model for health care providers and diabetes patients. The content validity was verified by three experts, and their IOC values were between 0.67- 1.0 The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of questionnaires was 0.91 and 0.85 respectively. The qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis, and statistical devices used for research data analysis were mean and standard deviation.
     The research findings were as follows. 1) The situation and needs for the development of a service model for diabetes patients were the following. Diabetes patients lacked continuous treatment, have difficulty getting to the hospital. Poor diet controlled, Moreover, Waiting area was crowded, Long waiting time, Patient medication information could not contact each other, Finally, The personnel is limited but the workload increased. The need to develop a model found that patients expect prompt service, Continuous and responsive to need. The service is convenient. Close to home and cost-saving. 2) The new model developed by the health care provider team for diabetes patients consisted of 5 components: (1) Screening and Stratification, (2) Registration, (3) telemedicine service, (4) Drug delivery, (5) Empowerment and Monitoring. The result after using the developed service model revealed that of the evaluation of service providers' satisfaction with the diabetes patient service model using the telemedicine system were at a high level overall. Diabetes patients were most satisfied with the overall model.