mHealth Clinic Appointment PC Tablet: Implementation, Challenges and Solutions

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Technology
• Telemedicine
• Patient Care

Background:

• Patients requiring daily intravenous (IV) home parenteral nutrition (HPN) need professional observation for self-care and complication prevention.
• In-home observation can improve patient outcomes and reduce serious health risks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the viability and utility of mobile healthcare (mHealth) videoconference assessments for HPN patients.
• To describe challenges and solutions for implementing tablet-based clinic appointments in homes.

Main Methods:

• Patients used an Apple iPad Mini with a 5-megapixel camera for encrypted audio-visual videoconferencing.
• Polycom RealPresence software and a 4G data plan facilitated connections between patients and healthcare professionals.
• Patient and professional evaluations of the mHealth experience were collected.

Main Results:

• 100% of patients (n=45) and professionals (n=6) confirmed clear audio and visual communication.
• Patients, family members, and professionals highly rated the mHealth interactions.
• Professionals effectively obtained medical histories and performed visual inspections.

Conclusions:

• iPad-based mHealth clinic appointments were highly rated for convenience and ease of communication.
• A key challenge is ensuring clinical professionals can make accurate judgments from remote observations.
• Implementing solutions for clear visuals can enhance clinical assessment capabilities in mHealth.