ABSTRACT
Purpose: Effective health care and patient adherence to their prescribed regimens relies on successful communication between patients and their providers. This study examined mechanisms for optimizing patient-physician communication in subjects with type 2 diabetes, with a focus on optimizing the incorporation of e-clinical technology to improve engagement and communication. Methods: A total of 105 subjects with type 2 diabetes participating in a large US mode equivalency study were surveyed independently of this trial. In addition to demographic information, each subject was queried on their familiarity with and preference for e-clinical technologies. Survey questions focused on mobile technology use, perceptions, and preferences for improving communication and interactions with health care providers. Results: Subjects were diverse in age, sex, education, and ethnicity. Forty nine percent owned a smartphone, and 64% had a computer at home. Most subjects (81%) were interested in using electronic methods (eg, app on a smartphone, email, or text messages) to interact more with physicians between visits. The majority of subjects were interested in using technology to help manage their type 2 diabetes, including 62% favoring communicating with their health-care providers via email and a considerable fraction interested in using smartphones to be provided medication reminders (56%), clinical visit scheduling (55%), and text messaging (49%). Conclusion: Subjects are interested in using electronic methods to increase communication with their physicians and manage their type 2 diabetes. Health-care providers should consider engaging patients with e-clinical technology to increase patient-physician communication and for the ultimate goal of improved health care.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Collection of patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures is critical to fully understand chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management and progression, as the impact on health-related quality of life is not well understood by objective measures alone. Electronic PROs (ePROs) are increasingly used because of their advantages over paper data collection, including elimination of transcription errors, increased accuracy and data quality, real-time data reporting, and increased compliance. The objective of this study was to characterize how patients with COPD prefer to use various types of technology to report disease symptoms, and their preferences for ePRO design and display. METHODS: The sample consisted of subjects with COPD (N = 103) who completed in-person surveys on their ePRO preferences. RESULTS: The majority of subjects prefer to use a form of electronic media over paper to report their disease symptoms. Of these electronic methods, subjects most often prefer to use a smartphone provided by their physician. Subjects were also interested in ePRO features, such as knowing estimated PRO completion time at the outset, tracking their progress in real time as they complete a questionnaire, seeing the data that they report in order to track their health status, being encouraged to complete their diary if they fall behind by positive messaging, and being thanked for their completion of a daily diary. CONCLUSIONS: Investigators should consider including these preferences when designing ePRO assessments. Incorporating patient preferences for ePRO design can ultimately help reduce patient burden and increase engagement, compliance, and improve data quality.
