Virtual Classrooms and Their Challenge of Interaction-An Evaluation of Chat Activities and Logs in an Online Course about Digital Medicine with Heterogeneous Participants.

Learning digital competencies can be successful if the information is also tried out immediately using interactive elements. However, interactive teaching poses a particular challenge, especially in large group formats. Various strategies are used to promote interaction, but there is little known about the results. This article shows different strategies and evaluates their influence on the interaction rate in a large group course over two terms that teaches digital medicine. Log files and participation in surveys as well as participation in chat were quantitatively evaluated. In addition, the chat messages themselves were evaluated qualitatively. For the evaluation, relation to the total number of participants was particularly relevant in order to be able to determine an interaction rate in the individual course sessions. A maximum average interaction rate of 90.97% could be determined over the entire term while the participants wrote an average of 3.96 comments during a session in the chat. In summary, this research could show that interactive elements should be well planned and used at regular intervals in order to reap the benefits.

Use and Perception of Digital Health Technologies by Surgical Patients in Germany in the Pre-COVID-19 Era: Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: This survey study investigates surgical patients' use and perception of digital health technologies in Germany in the pre-COVID-19 era. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to relate surgical patients' characteristics to the use and perception of several digital health technologies. METHODS: In this single-center, cross-sectional survey study in the outpatient department of a university hospital in Germany, 406 patients completed a questionnaire with the following three domains: general information and use of the internet, smartphones, and general digital health aspects. Analyses were stratified by age group and highest education level achieved. RESULTS: We found significant age-based differences in most of the evaluated aspects. Younger patients were more open to using new technologies in private and medical settings but had more security concerns. Although searching for information on illnesses on the web was common, the overall acceptance of and trust in web-based consultations were rather low, with <50% of patients in each age group reporting acceptance and trust. More people with academic qualifications than without academic qualifications searched for information on the web before visiting physicians (73/121, 60.3% and 100/240, 41.7%, respectively). Patients with academic degrees were also more engaged in health-related information and communication technology use. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the need for eHealth literacy, health literacy, and available digital devices and internet access to support the active, meaningful use of information and communication technologies in health care. Uncertainties and a lack of knowledge exist, especially regarding telemedicine and the use of medical and health apps. This is especially pronounced among older patients and patients with a low education status.

Needs Assessment for the Development of an Electronic Cross-Facility Health Record (ECHR) for Pediatric Palliative Care: A Design Thinking Approach.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric palliative care (PPC) is characterized by years of multisectoral and multi-professional care. Sharing information between PPC professionals is, therefore, essential for quality care. The evidence shows that electronic cross-facility health records (ECHRs) provide useful support in this context. To our knowledge, no ECHRs have been developed through a user-centered approach for this specific setting in Germany. METHODS: Guided by design thinking, first, qualitative interviews were conducted to assess the needs of PPC professionals. Second, the elicited needs were specified in focus groups (FGs). Based on the needs stated in the interviews, prototypes of the ECHR were developed and discussed in the FGs. The indicated needs were supplemented and specified in an iterative process. The prototypes were further adapted according to these results. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology was the basic model in the evaluation of needs. RESULTS: Across seven main categories, past and current medication, emergency view, and messaging functions were identified as the participants' desired core components of an ECHR. Utilizing design thinking facilitated the explicit articulation of user needs. CONCLUSIONS: Developing an ECHR with the content identified would allow for real-time data during emergencies, tracking what other PPC professionals have done, and making the applied treatments visible to others. This would offer a broader picture of the complex conditions common to PPC.

Impact of mobile health and medical applications on clinical practice in gastroenterology.

Mobile health apps (MHAs) and medical apps (MAs) are becoming increasingly popular as digital interventions in a wide range of health-related applications in almost all sectors of healthcare. The surge in demand for digital medical solutions has been accelerated by the need for new diagnostic and therapeutic methods in the current coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This also applies to clinical practice in gastroenterology, which has, in many respects, undergone a recent digital transformation with numerous consequences that will impact patients and health care professionals in the near future. MHAs and MAs are considered to have great potential, especially for chronic diseases, as they can support the self-management of patients in many ways. Despite the great potential associated with the application of MHAs and MAs in gastroenterology and health care in general, there are numerous challenges to be met in the future, including both the ethical and legal aspects of applying this technology. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the current status of MHA and MA use in the field of gastroenterology, describe the future perspectives in this field and point out some of the challenges that need to be addressed.

[Contact-Tracing Apps in Contact Tracing of COVID-19]. / Contact-Tracing-Apps als unterstützende Maßnahme bei der Kontaktpersonennachverfolgung von COVID-19.

Contact tracing is currently one of the most effective measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to identify persons that would otherwise not be known or remembered and to keep the time delay when reporting an infection and when contacting people as short as possible, digital contact tracing using smartphones seems to be a reasonable measure additional to manual contact tracing. Although first modelling studies predicted a positive effect in terms of prompt contact tracing, no empirically reliable data are as yet available, neither on the population-wide benefit nor on the potential risks of contact tracing apps. Risk-benefit assessment of such an app includes investigating whether such an app fulfils its purpose, as also research on the effectiveness, risks and side effects, and implementation processes (e. g. planning and inclusion of different participants). The aim of this article was to give an overview of possible public health benefits as well as technical, social, legal and ethical aspects of a contact-tracing app in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, conditions for the widest possible use of the app are presented.