Timing, Indicators, and Approaches to Digital Patient Experience Evaluation: Umbrella Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Digital Health Evaluation
• Patient Experience Research
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Digital health (DH) applications are rapidly expanding, outpacing robust evaluation methods.
• The World Health Organization identifies patient experience (PEx) as a critical challenge in healthcare systems.
• Standardized evaluation of PEx in DH is essential for evidence generation and technology integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically identify optimal timing, indicators, and approaches for evaluating digital PEx.
• To develop a comprehensive evaluation guide for digital PEx.
• To enhance the quality and consistency of digital PEx assessments.

Main Methods:

• A two-phase systematic literature review was conducted.
• Searches were performed in Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases.
• Thematic analysis of eligible articles informed the identification of evaluation components.

Main Results:

• Five evaluation objectives and corresponding stakeholder groups were identified.
• Key evaluation timing considerations were categorized into intervention maturity, evaluation timing, and data collection timing.
• Digital PEx indicators were summarized across intervention outputs, patient outcomes, and healthcare system impact.

Conclusions:

• An evaluation guide was generated to support researchers and practitioners in assessing digital PEx.
• Six future research and practice directions are proposed to address challenges in digital PEx.
• The study aims to improve the evaluation of digital PEx and address the challenge of poor patient experience.