Mobile phone access and preferences among medical inpatients at an urban Canadian hospital for post-discharge planning: A pre-COVID-19 cross-sectional survey

Digital health interventions are increasingly used for patient care, yet little data is available on the phone access type and usage preferences amongst medical ward inpatients to inform the most appropriate digital interventions post-discharge. To identify mobile phone ownership, internet access, a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in digital health Vol. 4; p. 928602
Main Authors: AboMoslim, Maryam, Babili, Abdulaa, Ghaseminejad-Tafreshi, Niloufar, Manson, Matthew, Fattah, Fanan, El Joueidi, Samia, Staples, John A., Tam, Penny, Lester, Richard T.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 11.11.2022
Subjects:
Digital Health
hospital readmission
mHealth
mobile phone penetration
patient engagement
virtual care
hospital readmission
digital health
health services planning
mobile phone penetration
mHealth
patient engagement
virtual care
ISSN:2673-253X, 2673-253X
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Digital health interventions are increasingly used for patient care, yet little data is available on the phone access type and usage preferences amongst medical ward inpatients to inform the most appropriate digital interventions post-discharge. To identify mobile phone ownership, internet access, and cellular use preferences among medical inpatients, we conducted a researcher-administered survey of patients admitted to five internal medicine units at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) in January 2020. The survey was administered over 2 days separated by a 2-week period. A total of 81 inpatients completed the questionnaire. Survey found that 85.2% of survey respondents had mobile phone access where 63.0% owned their own mobile phone, and 22.2% had access to a mobile phone a proxy (or an authorized third-party) such as a family member. All participants with mobile phone access had cellular plans (i.e., phone and text); however, a quarter of respondents did not have data plans with internet access. Survey showed that 71.1% of males owned a mobile phone compared to only 52.8% of females. All participants at a "high" risk of readmission had access to a mobile phone, either as phone-owners or proxy-dependent users. Access to mobile phones among medical ward inpatients, 85.2%, was comparable to smartphone penetration rates amongst Canadians in 2019, 85.1%. More patients had cellular than data plans (i.e., internet and applications). Understanding patient-specific access is key to informing potential uptake of digital health interventions aimed at using patients' mobile phones (mHealth) from an effectiveness and equity lens.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Specialty Section: This article was submitted to Human Factors and Digital Health, a section of the journal Frontiers in Digital Health
Reviewed by: M. Tasdik Hasan, Monash University, Australia Rute Almeida, University of Porto, Portugal
Abbreviations BC, British Columbia; CML, care management lead; IM CTU, internal medicine clinical teaching units; LTCF, long-term care facilities; mHealth, mobile health; RRAS, readmission risk assessment score; SD, standard deviation; TST, transitional services team; VCCM, Vancouver community case management; VGH, Vancouver General Hospital; VCH, Vancouver Coastal Health; U.S. FDA, United States of America Food and Drug Administration (FDA); WHO, World Health Organization
Edited by: Stephen Schueller, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, United States
ISSN:2673-253X
2673-253X
DOI:10.3389/fdgth.2022.928602