Background: Currently, the use of teledentistry is still low in developing countries. In Rwanda, the state of teledentistry is undocumented.
Background: Oral health affects quality of life and is linked to overall health. Enhanced oral health research is needed in low- and middle-income countries to develop strategies that reduce the burden of oral disease, improve oral health and inform oral health workforce and infrastructure development decisions. Objective: To implement the first National Oral Health Survey of Rwanda to assess the oral disease burden and inform oral health promotion strategies. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, sample size and site selection were based on the World Health Organization (WHO) Oral Health Surveys Pathfinder stratified cluster methodologies. Randomly selected 15 sites included 2 in the capital city, 2 other urban centers and 11 rural locations representing all provinces and rural/urban population distribution. A minimum of 125 individuals from each of 5 age groups were included at each site. A Computer Assisted Personal Instrument (CAPI) was developed to administer the study instrument. Results: Nearly two-thirds (64.9%) of the 2097 participants had caries experience and 54.3% had untreated caries. Among adults 20 years of age and older, 32.4% had substantial oral debris and 60.0% had calculus. A majority (70.6%) had never visited an oral health provider. Quality-of-life challenges due to oral diseases/conditions including pain, difficulty chewing, self-consciousness, and difficulty participating in usual activities was reported at 63.9%, 42.2% 36.2%, 35.4% respectively. Conclusion: The first National Oral Health Survey of Rwanda was a collaboration of the Ministry of Health of Rwanda, the University of Rwanda Schools of Dentistry and Public Health, the Rwanda Dental Surgeons and Dental (Therapists) Associations, and Tufts University and Harvard University Schools of Dental Medicine. The international effort contributed to building oral health research capacity and resulted in a national oral health database of oral disease burden. This information is essential for developing oral disease prevention and management strategies as well as oral health workforce and infrastructure.
Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of oral health care providers toward the use of online medical databases for clinical decision-making processes. Subjects and methods: The study population included all the licensed oral health care providers living in Rwanda, registered either with the Rwanda Allied Health Professional Council (RAHPC) or Rwanda Medical and Dental Council (RMDC). A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect demographic data as well as data regarding knowledge, attitude, and practice of oral health care providers regarding the use of online medical databases for making clinical decisions. A pilot study with 12 oral health care providers was done before the main study to pretest the questionnaire. Results: The study results show that among the 201 respondents, 80% (N=160) reported using internet-based resources to support their clinical decisions, while 20% (N=41) of oral health care providers do not use online resources when making their clinical decisions. In general, there was a positive attitude towards internet-based resources among the participants, as 92% (N=184) respondents believe that internet-based resources are helpful in clinical decision-making processes. Of clinical importance, 68% respondents (N=136) believe that by using current internet-based information, better clinical care can be offered to their patients. Conclusion: Educating oral health care providers on the useful and appropriate online resources available for supporting clinical decision-making processes might increase the efficiency of patient care.
Background: Worldwide Electronic Medical Records (EMR) when compared to a paper-based system has been proven to improve service delivering numerous health care facilities. However, no research has been described in the literature regarding the user's perception of the clinical electronic medical record (EMR) system in Rwanda. The objective of this study is to evaluate the health care consumer's perception of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) OpenClinic regarding improving the quality of health care delivery within the hospital setting. How does the OpenClinic system affect the patients' waiting time? How complete is the information obtained from OpenClinic as compared to paper medical records, and the level of satisfaction of the users of OpenClinic. Method: A structured questionnaire was developed, validated and utilized in this quantitative research project. Quantitative data were collected from 170 participants while an interview guide was used to collect qualitative data from 6 key informants at a referral hospital in Kigali. The SPSS version 20.0 was used to analyze the quantitative data. The interviews transcribed verbatim; the data were thematically analyzed and categorized by pre-determined themes. Permission to conduct the study was approved from the ethics committee of the University of Rwanda, College of Health Sciences and the hospital. Results: The majority of the participants were satisfied with OpenClinic, (90%), while only a few (10%) did not perceive any advantage of a computer-based EMR and preferred paper based records. Conclusion: Openclinc EMR was seen to be an improvement in the data collection involving health care delivery in Kigali, Rwanda.
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