Utilization of Hospital Room Hospitality Features on Patient-Controlled Tablet Computers: Cohort Study

Abstract

Background Patient portals tethered to electronic health records can improve patient experience, activation, and outcomes. However, adoption of inpatient portals has been challenging. One way to potentially increase inpatient portal usage is to integrate it with a room control (RC) app on a common tablet computer. Objective The aim of this study was to perform a retrospective analysis of patient usage of an RC app provided on tablet computers in patient rooms of our new inpatient tower. Methods We identified all patients who were admitted for >24 hours to our new inpatient tower over a 90-day period from September 1 to November 30, 2017. After excluding newborn patients from our analysis, we then identified patients who used the RC app at least one time during their admission. We linked these data to patient demographics (including age, sex, and race) and admitting service. We then performed univariable and multivariable logistic regression to assess patterns of RC app usage. Results A total of 3411 patients were admitted over the course of the study period; 2242/3411 (65.73%) used the RC app during their hospitalization. Compared with white patients, other/mixed/unknown race and Asian, Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, American Indian race were significantly associated with increased use of the RC app in a multivariable analysis. Increasing age was significantly associated with increased usage of the RC app. Usage of the RC app also varied by admitting services. Compared with general medicine, bone marrow transplant and general surgery patients had increased usage of the RC app. Conversely, critical care, medical specialties, neurology, surgical subspecialties, and obstetrics/gynecology were all associated with decreased usage of the RC app. Conclusions Our study shows that one-third of patients are not using the RC app for critical room functions. Future initiatives to increase RC usage should take these populations into consideration. Contrary to common belief, older patients may use tablet-enabled RCs just as often, if not more often, than younger patients. Certain admitting services, such as neurology and surgical subspecialties, may have had lower usage rates owing to accessibility issues. Our study allows hospitals to tailor support for specific patient populations to increase RC app usage.

Usability of Mobile Health Apps for Postoperative Care: Systematic Review

“…Given the heterogeneity in definitions and methods used for assessing the usability of mHealth apps, one group has recently developed and validated the 21-item mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ) [ 24 ]. This tool explores 3 domains of usability, which are in line with the ISO definition: (1) ease of use and satisfaction, akin to ISO satisfaction; (2) system information arrangement, akin to ISO efficiency; and (3) usefulness, akin to ISO effectiveness.…”

The importance of evaluating inpatients? satisfaction with emphasis on the aspect of confidence

“…The patient's experience scores may also be related to more objective clinical quality measurements. As confirmed by the numerous studies, the hospitals that have a better collaboration with patients may also achieve higher rates of compliance with clinical healthcare standards and follow-up operation standards (Lim et al, 2020;Zhao et al, 2019;Lyu et al, 2013;Glickman et al, 2010). Heidegger et al (2006) focused on an examination of the patient satisfaction with anaesthesia care.…”

Effect of In-Person vs Video Training and Access to All Functions vs a Limited Subset of Functions on Portal Use Among Inpatients

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11] Failure to provide patients with the necessary support to facilitate engagement with portals may result in low levels of use of the tool or use of only a limited range of available functions. 12,13 Although hospitals have devoted significant resources to implement patient portals, 14,15 the evaluation of inpatient portal use thus far has been limited in scale and scope, 6,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22] reducing the value of such findings in the context of clinical efforts to implement commercial products. 3,7 To address this gap, we conducted a pragmatic randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effect of training and the availability of portal functions on inpatient portal use and on patient satisfaction and involvement with their care.…”

“…Although hospitals have devoted significant resources to implement patient portals, the evaluation of inpatient portal use thus far has been limited in scale and scope, reducing the value of such findings in the context of clinical efforts to implement commercial products . To address this gap, we conducted a pragmatic randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effect of training and the availability of portal functions on inpatient portal use and on patient satisfaction and involvement with their care.…”