Satisfaction and Experience of Palliative Patients with 24/7 Hotline Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a number of shifts on healthcare. Conventional face-to-face visits were shifted during lockdown to virtual ones. Palliative care (PC) virtual visits have had high satisfaction rates, especially with patients in remote areas. Due to a number of factors, further studies are needed to develop tools that can be helpful and cost effective in improving patient’s quality of life. Objective: Our aim is to learn the main reasons palliative patients in Saudi Arabia sought help via calling the free 24/7 hotline and to discuss the hotline’s satisfaction and effectiveness in solving the palliative patient’s concerns during COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional sample analysis was obtained from 214 patients from different regions in Saudi Arabia. A total number of 843 calls were made to the 24/7 PC hotlines from the period of 17 April 2020 to 28 February 2021, shortly after COVID-19 pandemic began. The purpose of the call, the caller's relationship to the patient, the status of the complaint, and the satisfaction rate were collected at the end of the call through a voluntary phone survey. Results: The primary reasons that palliative patients called the hotline were: 30% for medication refills, (n=247), 24.7% for medical complaints, (n=205), 15.8% were for booking a new appointment (n=131). Patients themselves accounted for 27.8% of the callers and patient’s sons/daughters accounted for 51.3%. 85% of patients said that their issue had been resolved by the end of the call and 89% of our sample were happy with the service provided through the hotline. Conclusion: The 24/7 hotline service for PC patients in Saudi Arabia was successful in its application and resulted in a high level of satisfaction among a wide sample of participants. The main reasons palliative patients reached out were to request medication refills, seek assistance with a medical complaint, and to book a new appointment. Our hotline service effectively solved 85% of patients' issues.