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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Implementation Science
Volume 4 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/frhs.2024.1416386
Experience of a tertiary acute care hospital in Southeast Asia in initiating patient engagement with the aid of digital solutions
Provisionally accepted- 1 Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
- 2 National Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- 3 KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
- 4 Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
- 5 Singhealth Group Nursing, Singapore, Singapore
Introduction: With the goal of patient engagement, an initiative was formulated to equip each patient in the general wards with a tablet whereby they can access their health information, patient education materials and communicate with their healthcare team. This paper presented the methodology of the implementation efforts as well as an evaluation of the preliminary outcomes. Methods: The process of hospital wide implementation was shared using the implementation research logic model. The bedside tablets were rolled out hospital wide in a step-wedge manner over 12 months. Barriers and facilitators to this implementation were discussed together with strategies to optimize the situation. Preliminary outcomes of the implementation were evaluated using the RE-AIM framework. Results: The initial adoption rate for the bedside tablet was low. Additional strategies such as survey audits and provision of feedback, development of education materials for patients, facilitation and purposefully re-examining the implementation strategies were used to improve adoption. Trend of adoption increased over the course of two years from the start of implementation. Discussion: The initial lower adoption rates may reflect Singapore’s paternalistic healthcare culture. While this implementation was driven by the need to move away from paternalism and towards patient engagement, more time is required for significant cultural change.
Keywords: patient engagement, Technology, Patient Education, implementation, digital solutions
Received: 12 Apr 2024; Accepted: 05 Sep 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Fan, Lim, Sim, Mary Jane Seville, Kam, Leong, Choy, Ong, Wang, Lau, Ng, Ayre and Ang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Shu Hui Lim, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
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