ABS40: Exploring professional and patient attitudes to mobile telephone-based technologies for monitoring asthma: Qualitative study

Abstract

Introduction:

Mobile phones offer innovative opportunities for healthcare monitoring. It is, however, far from clear how healthcare professionals and patients view the potential offered by such technology and how this may impact on the dynamics of asthma monitoring and care provision.

Aims and objectives:

To examine patient and healthcare professional attitudes towards the benefits and practical application of using mobile telephone-based technologies for monitoring asthma.

Subjects and methods:

Six focus groups (involving 28 patients with asthma and 12 professionals). Exploration of initial attitudes was followed by demonstration of the e-San/O2 asthma monitoring technology, Subsequent discussion focused on potential applications. Data analysis was iterative, with key emerging themes identified using NVivo.

Results:

There was broad agreement between patients and professionals that practical applications included more efficiently confirming a diagnosis, identifying triggers (at both individual and population levels) and monitoring severe disease. Divergent opinions were, however, expressed on the impact on the patient-professional relationship: either enabling self-management or, conversely, increasing professional supervision. Perceived benefits identified included facilitating compliance with monitoring and enabling remote consultations. Participants raised concerns about costs, and who should pay (the patient or the health service), reliability and security of technology, and the potential for increasing social exclusion.

Conclusions:

Although not universally applicable, mobile telephone based monitoring for asthma was seen as having some important benefits for some people in some situations (e.g. enabling newly diagnosed patients to identify triggers, monitoring exacerbations in people with severe asthma) Practical considerations, such as cost, security and dependability of the technology will need to be addressed before widespread uptake.

Conflict of interest and funding

None. Funding: British Lung Foundation.