Evaluation of satisfaction with a secure, connected mobile application for women in assisted reproductive technology programmes: a prospective, observational study of patients and medical team members. (Preprint)

Abstract

Telemedicine has emerged rapidly as a novel and secure tool to deliver medical information and prescription. A secure, connected healthcare application (Wistim) has been developed in order to facilitate dialogue between patients and the medical team during an ovarian stimulation cycle for medically assisted reproduction (MAR).

The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the patients’ and midwives’ levels of satisfaction with the connected mobile application.

We conducted a prospective, observational, single-centre study at Lille University Hospital, France. From May 1st, to July 31st, 2021, all women undergoing ovarian stimulation started to receive their treatment advice via the mobile application. 184 consecutive women were included and filled out the 30-item Usefulness Satisfaction and Ease-of-Use (USE) questionnaire, which examines the users’ opinions in four dimensions: usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction. The women also answered a series of closed and open questions. The five midwives in our ART centre filled out the French version of the 10-item System Usability Scale (SUS) when the application was implemented and then after 3 and 6 months of use. We also performed semistructured interviews with the midwives.

In all, 183 women used the application throughout their follow-up period. None refused to use the application, and one withdrew from the study. The mean scores for the four USE dimensions were all significantly greater than 4, i.e. the middle of the response scale. The women liked the application’s ease of use, the access to tutorial videos, and the reminders about appointments and treatments. In particular, the women liked to be able to (re)read the information; this reassured them, might have reduced the number of missed appointments and treatments, and made them more independent during the day - especially when they were working. Some of the women regretted the loss of direct contact with the midwife. The mean SUS score was 76 at the start of the study, 75 after 3 months, and 84 after 6 months. According to Bangor et al.’s adjective rating scale, these scores corresponded to good usability for the application. After the requisite training and a familiarization period, the midwives reported that using the application saved them 2 hours a day. The mobile application enabled better transmission of information and thus probably helped to decrease treatment errors.

The WISTIM connected mobile application is one of the first reliable, secure application in the field of MAR. The application reassured the patients during the ovarian stimulation. Women and medical team considered that application was easy and intuitive to use. Given the growth in demand for ART programmes and the medical team’s work load, the time savings provided by the application constitute a non-negligeable advantage.