“Is There An App For That?” Orthopaedic Patient Preferences For A Smartphone Application

Abstract

The smartphone is an under-utilized tool to enhance patient-physician communication, increase satisfaction, and improve quality of care. Patients were enthusiastic about app features that are often included in patient health portals, but ranked orthopaedic educational features lowest. Further study is required to elucidate how best to use orthopaedic apps as physician-directed educational opportunities to promote patient satisfaction and quality of care.

The Utilization of Physician Cell Phone Numbers by Patients in an Orthopaedic Surgery Practice

“…The importance of physician-patient communication is well-recognized, and its role continues to evolve as the healthcare system transitions to an outcome-based model with heavy reliance on patient satisfaction [12]. Physician accessibility constitutes an essential part of this relationship, and availability beyond in-person visits can be argued to be as equally as important in patient care [10].…”

“…Physicians who are more accessible have also been shown to have more satisfied patients who are more likely to be compliant with instructions as well as less litigious [10,13]. With the drastic rise in smartphone and cell phone ownership in recent years, this technology has an enormous potential for further extending the methods of communication and physician accessibility that currently constitutes the physician-patient relationship [12]. To the authors' knowledge, this prospective study involves the largest series of patients being given the cell phone number of their orthopaedic surgeons and the first including patients from multiple perioperative visit types and seeing physicians from different orthopaedic surgery subspecialties.…”

“…A recent study surveying expectations of communication during the perioperative period of joint-sparing elective knee surgery reported that 63% of patients felt it "important" or "very important" that the operating surgeon was available by phone after surgery compared to only 32% feeling "important" or "very important" of surgeon email availability [14]. Further, when surveying 310 patients in an urban academic orthopaedic practice regarding preferences for an orthopaedic smartphone app, Datillo et al found that the ability to communicate with the physician team was one of the most desired features, just trailing appointment reminders and the access to test or procedure results [12].…”

Factors Affecting Patients' Acceptance of and Satisfaction with Cloud-Based Telehealth for Chronic Disease Management: A Case Study in the Workplace

“…7 There is a large body of evidence that supports the use of innovative technologies, such as telehealth, to monitor and manage chronic diseases such as diabetes, orthopedic conditions, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or renal disease at a distance and as frequently as necessary. 4,[8][9][10][11][12][13] Although there has been a high level of interest in using technology in health care and significant growth is expected in this area, 14 implementation has not been without problems, and many of the forecasts have not yet been fully realized. 15,16 For example, many telehealth services that started with pilot or small-scale projects are not regularly maintained, 15,17,18 and telehealth is still not considered a mainstream activity in the health sector.…”

Creating Value in Plastic Surgery

“…Current smartphone apps with portals to patient education, appointment reminders, and means for communication with the physician have proven successful-reported patient satisfaction with these apps comes mostly from the ability to communicate with the health care professional. 9 Customer satisfaction is crucial in sales/retail when the customer has access to different suppliers. A happy and informed patient is a powerful marketing tool for the physician/hospital system.…”