An individual dietary plan based on everyday food, combined with three follow-up visits (one, four, and eight weeks) after discharge, led to an improvement in nutritional status and self-rated health in geriatric patients.

Background Malnutrition is prevalent in older patients, which is associated with severe consequences such as a decline in functional status, increased risk of readmission, and increased mortality. A tablet-based eHealth solution (Food‘n’Go) was recently developed and introduced at our clinic to support older patients’ involvement in nutritional interventions during their hospitalization, thereby enhancing their awareness and motivation for choosing the right food to obtain sufficient calorie and protein intake. To reap the full benefits from the eHealth solution, the technology should be introduced and accompanied by support that targets the end users’ competence level and needs. Objective In this study, we aimed to explore older patients’ readiness (ie, competence, preferences, and attitudes) toward the use of information and communication technology (ICT), and to identify the factors that may act as barriers or facilitators for their engagement with health technology. Methods A descriptive and explorative study was performed using triangulation of data derived from semistructured interviews and questionnaires (based on the Readiness and Enablement Index for Health Technology [READHY] instrument). Older hospitalized patients (age ≥65 years; N=25) were included from two hospitals in Denmark. Results The majority (16/25, 64%) of the older patients (median age 81 years) were users of ICT. The qualitative findings revealed that their experiences of benefits related to the use of ICT facilitated usage. Barriers for use of ICT were health-related challenges, limited digital literacy, and low self-efficacy related to ICT use due to age-related prejudices by their relatives and themselves. The qualitative findings were also reflected in the low median scores on the eHealth Literacy Questionnaire (eHLQ) READHY scales within dimensions addressing the user’s knowledge and skills (eHLQ1:1.8; eHLQ3: 2.0), and the user experience (eHLQ6: 2.0; eHLQ7: 1.5). Conclusions Older patients are potential users of ICT, but experience a variety of barriers for using eHealth. When introducing older patients to eHealth, it is important to emphasize the possible benefits, and to offer support targeting their knowledge, skills, and motivation.

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Background The implementation of an integrated electronic health record (EHR) system can potentially provide health care providers with support standardization of patient care, pathways, and workflows, as well as provide medical staff with decision support, easier access, and the same interface across features and subsystems. These potentials require an implementation process in which the expectations of the medical staff and the provider of the new system are aligned with respect to the medical staff’s knowledge and skills, as well as the interface and performance of the system. Awareness of the medical staff’s level of eHealth literacy may be a way of understanding and aligning these expectations and following the progression of the implementation process. Objective The objective of this study was to investigate how a newly developed and modified instrument measuring the medical staff’s eHealth literacy (staff eHealth Literacy Questionnaire [eHLQ]) can be used to inform the system provider and the health care organization in the implementation process and evaluate whether the medical staff’s perceptions of the ease of use change and how this may be related to their level of eHealth literacy. Methods A modified version of the eHLQ was distributed to the staff of a medical department in Denmark before and 3 months after the implementation of a new EHR system. The survey also included questions related to users’ perceived ease of use and their self-reported information technology skills. Results The mean age of the 194 participants before implementation was 43.1 (SD 12.4) years, and for the 198 participants after implementation, it was 42.3 (SD 12.5) years. After the implementation, the only difference compared with the preimplementation data was a small decrease in staff eHLQ5 (motivated to engage with digital services; unpaired 2-tailed t test; P=.009; effect size 0.267), and the values of the scales relating to the medical staff’s knowledge and skills (eHLQ1-3) were approximately ≥3 both before and after implementation. The range of scores was narrower after implementation, indicating that some of those with the lowest ability benefited from the training and new experiences with the EHR. There was an association between perceived ease of use and the 3 tested staff eHLQ scales, both before and after implementation. Conclusions The staff eHLQ may be a good candidate for monitoring the medical staff’s digital competence in and response to the implementation of new digital solutions. This may enable those responsible for the implementation to tailor efforts to the specific needs of segments of users and inform them if the process is not going according to plan with respect to the staff’s information technology–related knowledge and skills, trust in data security, motivation, and experience of a coherent system that suits their needs and supports the workflows and data availability.