Decision-Making in Epilepsy Care - Are Digital Services Underutilised?

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Healthcare Decision-Making
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Digital services are increasingly integrated into healthcare decision-making (DM).
• Digital tools support healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patient-generated health data.
• Understanding HCPs' use of digital services for patient information exchange is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how HCPs utilize digital services for patient information sharing.
• To evaluate neurologists' and nurses' perceptions of their roles in DM.
• To assess how digitalization impacts health information sharing in epilepsy care.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study employing focus group interviews with neurologists (n=3) and nurses (n=4).
• Inductive content analysis of interview data.
• Exploration of digital service utilization in patient information sharing.

Main Results:

• Both neurologists and nurses view information provision as central to DM in epilepsy care.
• Neurologists focus on medical information, while nurses provide practical, daily information.
• Digital service use for information sharing is limited; nurses guide patients to these resources more than neurologists, despite face-to-face interactions dominating information delivery.

Conclusions:

• Nurses emphasize the importance of implementing digital services for enhanced patient information sharing.
• Both HCP groups recognize the value of reliable information in improving patient knowledge and treatment adherence.
• Further research is needed to evaluate the clinical utility and adoption of digital services in healthcare decision-making.