Patient Perspectives on Innovative Telemonitoring Enhanced Care Program for Chronic Heart Failure (ITEC-CHF): Usability Study

Abstract

Background Telemonitoring enables care providers to remotely support outpatients in self-managing chronic heart failure (CHF), but little is known about the usability and patients’ willingness to engage with this technology. Objective This study aims to evaluate feedback from patients with CHF following participation in the Innovative Telemonitoring Enhanced Care program for CHF (ITEC-CHF) study. Methods The telemonitoring intervention consisted of three components: remote weight monitoring, structured telephone support, and nurse-led collaborative care. Participants were provided with electronic weighing scales (W550; ForaCare), and a computer tablet (Galaxy Tab A; Samsung). They were asked to weigh themselves on the provided scales daily. Telemonitoring was integrated with a personal assistance call service and a nurse care service according to their workflows in usual care. Feedback on the usability of ITEC-CHF was collected via survey from study participants following 6 months of receiving telemonitoring care for their body weight. Survey responses were provided on a 5-point Likert scale and through open-ended questions to determine participants’ perceived benefits and barriers to using ITEC-CHF. Results A total of 67 participants (49/67, 73% male), with a mean age of 69.8 (SD 12.4) years completed the survey. The majority of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the ITEC-CHF program was easy to use (61/67, 91%), easy to navigate (51/65, 78%), useful (59/65, 91%), and made them feel more confident in managing their weight (57/67, 85%). Themes related to participants’ perceptions of telemonitoring included increased support for early intervention of clinical deterioration, improved compliance to daily weighing, a sense of reassurance, and improved self-care and accountability, among others. Conclusions ITEC-CHF was rated highly on usability and was well accepted by users as part of their routine self-management activities. Participants were willing to use telemonitoring because they perceived a broad spectrum of benefits for CHF management. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ID ACTRN 12614000916640; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=366691.