Making remote measurement technology work in multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and depression: survey of healthcare professionals

Abstract

Background Epilepsy, multiple sclerosis (MS) and depression are long term, central nervous system disorders which have a significant impact on everyday life. Evaluating symptoms of these conditions is problematic and typically involves repeated visits to a clinic. Remote measurement technology (RMT), consisting of smartphone apps and wearables, may offer a way to improve upon existing methods of managing these conditions. The present study aimed to establish the practical requirements that would enable clinical integration of data from patients’ RMT, according to healthcare professionals. Methods This paper reports findings from an online survey of 1006 healthcare professionals currently working in the care of people with epilepsy, MS or depression. The survey included questions on types of data considered useful, how often data should be collected, the value of RMT data, preferred methods of accessing the data, benefits and challenges to RMT implementation, impact of RMT data on clinical practice, and requirement for technical support. The survey was presented on the JISC online surveys platform. Results Among this sample of 1006 healthcare professionals, respondents were positive about the benefits of RMT, with 73.2% indicating their service would be likely or highly likely to benefit from the implementation of RMT in patient care plans. The data from patients’ RMT devices should be made available to all nursing and medical team members and could be reviewed between consultations where flagged by the system. However, results suggest it is also likely that RMT data would be reviewed in preparation for and during a consultation with a patient. Time to review information is likely to be one of the greatest barriers to successful implementation of RMT in clinical practice. Conclusions While further work would be required to quantify the benefits of RMT in clinical practice, the findings from this survey suggest that a wide array of clinical team members treating epilepsy, MS and depression would find benefit from RMT data in the care of their patients. Findings presented could inform the implementation of RMT and other digital interventions in the clinical management of a range of neurological and mental health conditions.

Clinical Perspectives on Using Remote Measurement Technology in Assessing Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and Depression: Delphi Study

“…The findings from this study and our prior work provide an indication of where costs may be incurred if RMT is implemented in a health care service [17]. The costs are likely to include introducing staff roles to manage patient data and provide technical support.…”

“…The development of these use cases considered the fit to the target population, the potential for a positive impact on the health and safety of patients, whether the use case would offer an improvement on current methods, and the existence of prior evidence to support the use case. These were also informed by our prior work, which included: a small-scale survey with patient advisers, HCPs, and researchers [14]; in-depth interviews with HCPs [15]; and a large-scale survey of 1006 clinicians on the current and potential use of RMT and apps in clinical practice [16] and the potential value of remote measurement data [17]. The Delphi study then sought to prioritize among the 13 use cases (5 in epilepsy, 3 in MS, and 5 in depression) to determine which of these would be most practicable and useful in the eyes of the expert clinician panel, who were outside of the consortium and so offered a more objective point of view.…”