Developing a Framework for Evaluating the Patient Engagement, Quality, and Safety of Mobile Health Applications

Rising ownership of smartphones and tablets across social and demographic groups has made mobile applications, or apps, a potentially promising tool for engaging patients in their health care, particularly those with high health care needs. Through a systematic search of iOS (Apple) and Android app stores and an analysis of apps targeting individuals with chronic illnesses, this issue brief assesses the degree to which apps are likely to be useful in patient engagement efforts. Usefulness was determined based on the following criteria: description of engagement, relevance to the targeted patient population, consumer ratings and reviews, and most recent app update. Among the 1,046 health care–related, patient-facing applications identified by this search, 43 percent of iOS apps and 27 percent of Android apps appeared likely to be useful. They also developed criteria for evaluating the patient engagement, quality, and safety of mobile apps.

How can we help people manage their own health?

It is an initiative of the NHS Leeds West looking for introduce¡ing a new way to help people look after their own health. Health coaching aims to give people the knowledge and skills to take control of their long term conditions. The tweet hcat will be hosted by @NHSLeedsWest using the hashtag #ManagingHealth on Tuesday 22 of March. 

Peer-delivered HIV/AIDS community testing and prevention services in Lisbon, Portugal

A community centre was opened in Lisbon to provide free, anonymous and peer-delivered HIV testing and prevention services targeted to the MSM community; generating political buy-in took considerable time and was described as a “long and persuasive process” with a need to “repeat the message endless times”; strong grassroots advocacy and persistent lobbying efforts by a patient organization were essential for securing funding; incorporating the target population in the provision of services helped ensure wider community engagement and trust; absence of a formal legislative framework and financial incentives required partnerships with self-motivated health professionals to be sought out.

Patient Engagement In Research: Early Findings From The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Charged with ensuring that research produces useful evidence to inform health decisions, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) requires investigators to engage patients and other health care stakeholders, such as clinicians and payers, in the research process. Many PCORI studies result in articles published in peer-reviewed journals that detail research findings and engagement’s role in research. To inform practices for engaging patients and others as research partners, this study analyzed 126 articles that described engagement approaches and contributions to research. PCORI projects engaged patients and others as consultants and collaborators in determining the study design, selecting study outcomes, tailoring interventions to meet patients’ needs and preferences, and enrolling participants. Many articles reported that engagement provided valuable contributions to research feasibility, acceptability, rigor, and relevance, while a few noted trade-offs of engagement. The findings suggest that engagement can support more relevant research through better alignment with patients’ and clinicians’ real-world ...

Nothing for us, without us: opportunities for meaningful engagement of people living with NCDs

People living with NCDs (PLWNCDs) are experts in their own right and if meaningfully engaged can be key partners and drivers in the co-creation, implementation and evaluation of NCD policies, programs, and services. 

This report is a result of the WHO Informal Consultation on PLWNCDs and outlines the participatory methods, main themes discussed and key next steps to further support meaningful engagement.

Realising Integrated Care

IFIC Ireland hosts and facilitates a series of six webinars titled ‘Realising Integrated Care’ which forms one of the key delivery mechanisms enabling knowledge mobilisation across all stakeholders with an interest in developing and implementing integrated care within the healthcare systems on the island of Ireland. 

Codesigning person-centred quality indicators with diverse communities: A qualitative patient engagement study

Effective engagement of underrepresented communities in health research and policy remains a challenge due to barriers that hinder participation. Our study had two objectives: (1) identify themes of person-centred care (PCC) from perspectives of diverse patients/caregivers that would inform the development of person-centred quality indicators (PC-QIs) for evaluating the quality of PCC and initiatives to improve PCC and (2) explore innovative participatory approaches to engage ethnocultural communities in qualitative research. Incorporating patient and community voices requires addressing issues related to equity and understanding barriers to effective and meaningful engagement.

Short Communication: Opportunities and Challenges for Early Person-Centered Care for Older Patients in Emergency Settings

The provision of person-centered care (PCC) for older adults in emergency settings is important. This short communication explores the complexity of providing comprehensive PCC for older adults in emergency settings, based on a synthesis of existing literature and empirical data from a small-scale case study on the potential of improving patient engagement in a Danish emergency department (ED). Our findings highlight overall positive attitudes towards PCC, as patient engagement is perceived as important and feasible during the waiting hours that older patients experience. 

Terms of engagement for working with patients in a person-centred partnership: A secondary analysis of qualitative data

Evidence is emerging of the potential of person-centred approaches to create partnerships between professionals and patients while also containing healthcare costs. This is important for enhancing outcomes in individuals with complex needs, who consistently report poor experiences with care. The shift towards person-centred care (PCC) is, however, a radical departure from the norm, with increased expectations of both professional and patient. 

All together now – patient engagement, patient empowerment, and associated terms in personal healthcare

Patients as active partners in their personal healthcare are key drivers to reducing costs, securing an effective usage of resources, and ensuring patient-provider satisfaction. Even though these benefits are acknowledged, a theoretical framework for the plethora of concepts used in this context, such as patient engagement, patient empowerment, or patient involvement is missing. Furthermore, the heterogeneous or synonymous usage of these terms leads to miscommunication, missing standard conceptual measures, and a deficiency in theory building and testing. Our objective is to show what the relationships and distinctions between concepts focussing on patients as active partners in their personal healthcare are.