scholarly journals Perceptions of Health Care Providers Regarding a Mobile Health Intervention to Manage Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Qualitative Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meshari F Alwashmi ◽  
Beverly Fitzpatrick ◽  
Erin Davis ◽  
John-Michael Gamble ◽  
Jamie Farrell ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Using a mobile health (mHealth) intervention, consisting of a smartphone and compatible medical device, has the potential to enhance chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment outcomes while mitigating health care costs. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the potential facilitators and barriers among health care providers (HCPs) regarding the use of mHealth interventions for COPD management. METHODS This was a qualitative study. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with HCPs, including nurses, pharmacists, and physicians who work directly with patients with COPD. A flexible prompts guide was used to facilitate discussions. Interview topics included the following: demographics, mHealth usage, perceptions toward challenges of mHealth adoption, factors facilitating mHealth adoption, and preferences regarding features of the mHealth intervention for COPD management. Interviews were conversational in nature, and items were not asked verbatim or in the order presented. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and compared against the digital recordings to ensure the accuracy of the content. After creating a codebook for analysis, 2 researchers independently coded the remaining interview data using pattern coding. They discussed commonalities and differences in coding until a consensus was reached. RESULTS A total of 30 nurses, physicians, and pharmacists participated. The main facilitators to mHealth adoption are possible health benefits for patients, ease of use, educating patients and their HCPs, credibility, and reducing cost to the health care system. Alternatively, the barriers to adoption are technical issues, privacy and confidentiality issues, lack of awareness, potential limited uptake from the elderly, potential limited connection between patients and HCPs, and finances. CONCLUSIONS It is important to understand the perceptions of HCPs regarding the adoption of innovative mHealth interventions for COPD management. This study identifies some potential facilitators and barriers that may inform the successful development and implementation of mHealth interventions for COPD management.

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pat G Camp ◽  
W Darlene Reid ◽  
Cristiane Yamabayashi ◽  
Dina Brooks ◽  
Donna Goodridge ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Patients hospitalized with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) engage in low levels of activity, putting them at risk for relapse and future readmissions. There is little direction for health care providers regarding the parameters for safe exercise during an AECOPD that is effective for increasing activity tolerance before discharge from hospital, especially for patients with associated comorbid conditions.OBJECTIVE: To report the rationale for and methods of a study to develop evidence-informed care recommendations that guide health care providers in the assessment, prescription, monitoring and progression of exercise for patients hospitalized with AECOPD.METHODS: The present study was a multicomponent knowledge translation project incorporating evidence from systematic reviews of exercise involving populations with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and/or common comorbidities. A Delphi process was then used to obtain expert opinion from clinicians, academics and patients to identify the parameters of safe and effective exercise for patients with AECOPD.RESULTS: Clinical decision-making tool(s) for patients and practitioners supported by a detailed knowledge dissemination, implementation and evaluation framework.CONCLUSION: The present study addressed an important knowledge gap: the lack of availability of parameters to guide safe and effective exercise prescription for hospitalized patients with AECOPD, with or without comorbid conditions. In the absence of such parameters, health care professionals may adopt an ‘activity as tolerated’ approach, which may not improve physical activity levels in their patients. The present study synthesizes the best available evidence and expert opinion, and will generate decision-making tools for use by patients and their health care providers.


2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 319-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannine S. Schiller ◽  
Hanyu Ni

Purpose. To identify factors predictive of smoking cessation among adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Data from the 1997 to 2002 National Health Interview Surveys were analyzed for adults at least 25 years of age with COPD using logistic regression. Results. Of the adults with COPD, 36.2% were current smokers. Of the current smokers and former smokers who had quit smoking during the past year, 22.9% reported not receiving cessation advice from a health care professional during the past year. Although half of smokers with COPD had attempted to quit during the past year, only 14.6% were successful. Attempting to quit was negatively associated with heavy drinking but positively associated with being younger and having cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer, and activity limitation due to lung problems. Factors predictive of successful cessation included being at least 65 years old, not being poor, and activity limitation due to lung problems. Conclusion. This study underscores the importance of continuing to develop smoking cessation strategies for COPD patients and implementing clinical guidelines on smoking cessation among health care providers.


Medicina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 726
Author(s):  
Claudio F. Donner ◽  
Richard ZuWallack ◽  
Linda Nici

Medical management of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient must incorporate a broadened and holistic approach to achieve optimal outcomes. This is best achieved with integrated care, which is based on the chronic care model of disease management, proactively addressing the patient’s unique medical, social, psychological, and cognitive needs along the trajectory of the disease. While conceptually appealing, integrated care requires not only a different approach to disease management, but considerably more health care resources. One potential way to reduce this burden of care is telemedicine: technology that allows for the bidirectional transfer of important clinical information between the patient and health care providers across distances. This not only makes medical services more accessible; it may also enhance the efficiency of delivery and quality of care. Telemedicine includes distinct, often overlapping interventions, including telecommunication (enhancing lines of communication), telemonitoring (symptom reporting or the transfer of physiological data to health care providers), physical activity monitoring and feedback to the patient and provider, remote decision support systems (identifying “red flags,” such as the onset of an exacerbation), tele-consultation (directing assessment and care from a distance), tele-education (through web-based educational or self-management platforms), tele-coaching, and tele-rehabilitation (providing educational material, exercise training, or even total pulmonary rehabilitation at a distance when standard, center-based rehabilitation is not feasible). While the above components of telemedicine are conceptually appealing, many have had inconsistent results in scientific trials. Interventions with more consistently favorable results include those potentially modifying physical activity, non-invasive ventilator management, and tele-rehabilitation. More inconsistent results in other telemedicine interventions do not necessarily mean they are ineffective; rather, more data on refining the techniques may be necessary. Until more outcome data are available clinicians should resist being caught up in novel technologies simply because they are new.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 175346662095104
Author(s):  
Meshari F. Alwashmi ◽  
Beverly Fitzpatrick ◽  
Erin Davis ◽  
Jamie Farrell ◽  
John-Michael Gamble ◽  
...  

Background: The use of mobile health (mHealth) interventions has the potential to enhance chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment outcomes. Further research is needed to determine which mHealth features are required to potentially enhance COPD self-management. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the potential features of an mHealth intervention for COPD management with healthcare providers (HCPs) and patients with COPD. It could inform the development and successful implementation of mHealth interventions for COPD management. Methods: This was a qualitative study. We conducted semi-structured individual interviews with HCPs, including nurses, pharmacists and physicians who work directly with patients with COPD. Interviews were also conducted with a diverse sample of patients with COPD. Interview topics included demographics, mHealth usage, the potential use of medical devices and recommendations for features that would enhance an mHealth intervention for COPD management. Results: A total of 40 people, including nurses, physicians and pharmacists, participated. The main recommendations for the proposed mHealth intervention were categorised into two categories: patient interface and HCP interface. The prevalent features suggested for the patient interface include educating patients, collecting baseline data, collecting subjective data, collecting objective data via compatible medical devices, providing a digital action plan, allowing patients to track their progress, enabling family members to access the mHealth intervention, tailoring the features based on the patient’s unique needs, reminding patients about critical management tasks and rewarding patients for their positive behaviours. The most common features of the HCP interface include allowing HCPs to track their patients’ progress, allowing HCPs to communicate with their patients, educating HCPs and rewarding HCPs. Conclusion: This study identifies important potential features so that the most effective, efficient and feasible mHealth intervention can be developed to improve the management of COPD. The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Kirby ◽  
M. Mutimbe ◽  
S. Vagholkar ◽  
J. Bunker ◽  
S. M. Dennis ◽  
...  

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common cause of hospital readmissions worldwide. Outcomes for COPD patients improve if care is more integrated. COPD patients and their health care providers at a district hospital and community health service were interviewed about their perceptions of integration of care. Patients were confused about provider roles, had little understanding of their disease, had difficulty accessing services and did not have COPD action plans. Health care providers espoused integration of COPD care. Care was reasonably well integrated in the hospital. Integration of care was compromised in the community because COPD patients went to the emergency department when symptoms became unmanageable, while only attending their GPs for routine booked appointments. Integration could be improved if health care providers spent more time with patients, promoting understanding of the disease, supporting self-management and liaising with other providers. Patients would benefit from an action plan and additional support. Potentially preventable COPD admissions will continue without action to improve integration of community services and patients’ understanding of their condition.


Author(s):  
Florence van Lieshout ◽  
Rebecca Yang ◽  
Vess Stamenova ◽  
Payal Agarwal ◽  
Daniel Cornejo Palma ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Implementing digital health technologies is complex but can be facilitated by considering the features of the tool that is being implemented, the team that will use it, and the routines that will be affected. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to assess the implementation of a remote-monitoring initiative for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Ontario, Canada using the Tool+Team+Routine framework and to refine this approach to conceptualize the adoption of technologies in health care. METHODS This study was a qualitative research project that took place alongside a randomized controlled trial comparing a technology-enabled self-monitoring program with a technology-enabled self- and remote-monitoring program in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and with standard care. This study included interviews with 5 remote-monitoring patients, 3 self-monitoring patients, 2 caregivers, 5 health care providers, and 3 hospital administrators. The interview questions were structured around the 3 main concepts of the Tool+Team+Routine framework. RESULTS Findings emphasized that (1) technologies can alter relationships between providers and patients, and that these relationships drove the development of a new service arising from the technology, in our case, and (2) technologies can create additional work that is not visible to management as a result of not being considered within the scope of the service. CONCLUSIONS Literature on the implementation of digital health technologies has still not reconciled the importance of interpersonal relationships to conventional implementation strategies. By acknowledging the centrality of such relationships, implementation teams can better plan for the adaptations required in order to make new technologies work for patients and health care providers. Further work will need to address how specific individuals administering a remote-monitoring program work to build relationships, and how these relationships and other sources of activity might lead to technological scope creep—an unanticipated expanding scope of work activities in relation to the function of the tool.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document