Palliative care providers’ use of digital health and perspectives on technological innovation: a national study

Background While the need for digital health capability and technological innovation in palliative care services is growing rapidly, relatively little is known about the current uptake and views of individual palliative care practitioners. This study aims to explore palliative care practitioners’ cu...

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Published in:BMC palliative care Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 1 - 10
Main Authors: Mills, Jason, Fox, Jennifer, Damarell, Raechel, Tieman, Jennifer, Yates, Patsy
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London BioMed Central 07.08.2021
BioMed Central Ltd
Springer Nature B.V
BMC
Subjects:
Advance directives
Artificial intelligence
Beliefs, opinions and attitudes
Content analysis
Digital health
E-health
Exports
Hospice care
Innovation
Innovations
Medical innovations
Medical personnel
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Nurses
Pain Medicine
Palliative care
Palliative Medicine
Palliative treatment
Polls & surveys
Public opinion
Quality of Life Research
Questionnaires
Survey
Technology
Technology application
Telemedicine
Text messaging
Australia
Queensland Australia
Palliative care
Innovation
Survey
Digital health
Technology
ISSN:1472-684X, 1472-684X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Background While the need for digital health capability and technological innovation in palliative care services is growing rapidly, relatively little is known about the current uptake and views of individual palliative care practitioners. This study aims to explore palliative care practitioners’ current use of and perspectives on digital health innovation in palliative care. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional survey with a web-based questionnaire was used. Participants were multidisciplinary palliative care practitioners in Australia. Results Surveys were returned by 170 medical, nursing, and allied health practitioners working in palliative care. Most respondents reported using a variety of digital health technology associated with clinical information systems, mobile devices, SMS text messaging, teleconferencing, and Wi-Fi. These technologies were used for the purpose of communicating with other health professionals, accessing web-based or mobile health palliative care resources, collecting or managing patient data, and providing information or education. However, few reported electronic access to patients’ advance care planning documentation or could update these data. Respondents were moderately confident in their ability to use digital health, held positive beliefs that palliative care could be enhanced through digital health, and were generally supportive of ongoing innovation through digitally-enable models of care. Palliative care providers would most like to see digital health innovations in the areas of client health records, telehealth, and personal health tracking. Conclusion This is the first national study of digital health in Australian palliative care providers. It contributes new knowledge in this important area of palliative care practice to guide policy and education, whilst informing future directions for research.
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ISSN:1472-684X
1472-684X
DOI:10.1186/s12904-021-00822-2