Ascertaining the Place of Social Media and Technology for Bariatric Patient Support: What Do Allied Health Practitioners Think?

Application and effectiveness of eHealth strategies for metabolic and bariatric surgery patients: A systematic review

“…Tables 1 and 2 summarize the current state of the literature in terms of published eHealth strategies, programs and interventions specifically targeting individuals who are either undergoing or who have completed MBS by study design (review articles to randomized controlled trials) and several other key characteristics. 14–61 Specifically, Tables 1 and 2 are organized by the RE-AIM constructs as follows: (1) the Reach column reports sample characteristics (e.g. unit of analysis, mean age, sex); (2) the Efficacy/Effectiveness column reports the primary focus or premise of the study; (3) the Adoption column summarizes the key reported primary and secondary (where applicable) outcomes; (4) the Implementation column reports the eHealth mechanism (e.g.…”

“…In general, studies reported that patients are amenable to eHealth strategies such as email and SMS, 38 and many use the internet, and Facebook in particular, to seek out information about MBS. Interestingly, one study 39 reported that eHealth strategies such as telehealth and teleconferencing are not widely utilized (adopted) in the UK with this patient population. No studies reported long-term (≥6 months post-study/intervention) follow-up on eHealth usage and outcomes.…”

“We Need to Be Told What to Do and What to Eat”: A Qualitative Study Exploring Perioperative Patient Desires, Suggestions and Reflections on Using Digital Health Technology Before and After Bariatric Surgery. 

“…when themes began to repeat themselves and subsequent interviews yielded no new themes. A semi-structured interview schedule was developed based on three pilot interviews, existing studies concerning digital health technologies, (18,19,35,36) and systematic reviews of the literature. (20) The schedule formed the basis of all participant interviews for this study (see Figure 1).…”

Future of digital technology in paramedic practice: blue light of discernment in responsive care for patients?

“…The findings revealed a degree of generic transferability to other allied healthcare professional disciplines in relation to the need to aid patients and their families and carers in discerning the best information sources to access from online platforms. This interpretivist overview of the engagement of patients with social media and mobile apps highlighted the evident need for Allied Health Professions, of which paramedics are an integral part, to address issues of ambiguity of the role of digital technology in facilitating and supporting patients in practice (Graham et al, 2017). The wider significance of this work is evident in the context of clinical paramedic practice, where the role of technologies has the potential to become increasingly more commonplace over the next decade.…”

“…The role of paramedics as emergency responders at the front line of care, remains pivotal in the context of wider interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary team working where patients need support, encouragement and Professional © 2017 MA Healthcare Ltd recognition for discerning the extent of their need for paramedic intervention. Whilst our research focused specifically on the role of digital technologies in supporting patients in the medical and surgical field of bariatrics, it revealed wider, potentially transferrable aspects of technological support to the wider context of Paramedic practice (Graham et al, 2017). The most common long term conditions whose infrastructures of care would potentially lend them to the integration of digital technology are the multidisciplinary team management of conditions such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension (Stoke on Trent Clinical Commissioning Group, 2016), two of the most common predisposing long term conditions for cerebro-vascular accidents (CVAs) and pathological cardiovascular incidents, where paramedics are first responders in emergency situations (Rudd et al, 2016).…”