Using clinical simulation to evaluate a video telehealth consultation summary application

Patients forget up to 80% of information conveyed during medical consultations. While clinicians may provide hand-written notes to patients during in-person appointments, such opportunities are limited in telehealth. Palliative care patients with complex information needs may benefit from consultation summaries. We developed a consultation summary application (CSA) to generate patient-facing summaries during video telehealth, in a palliative care context. Traditional research methods fall short in early identification and resolution of socio-technical factors, e.g., workflow compatibility, which impact the adoption of digital health innovations. Drawing on the Service Readiness Level Framework, we adopted a phased approach to generating evidence for the CSA. We conducted clinical simulations with seven clinician-simulated patient dyads involving the metastatic lung cancer scenario to examine and address usability and workflow integration issues prior to real-world implementation. Both clinicians and simulated patients perceived the CSA as a valuable tool to support palliative care patients with information recall and self-management. We recommend clinical simulation to de-risk real-world deployment, and optimise the digital health innovations.