Experiences of using an electronic health (eHealth)-tool among healthcare professionals involved in COPD management - a qualitative analysis.

Abstract

Although electronic health (eHealth) tools are seen as a promising way of delivering health services within COPD management, knowledge is scarce on the experience of using eHealth tools from the healthcare professional9s perspective.&nbsp;Therefore, we aimed to explore the experiences of using an eHealth tool among healthcare professionals that worked with patients with COPD in daily clinical practice. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with ten healthcare professionals (nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians, occupational therapists, and physicians) at three and twelve months after getting&nbsp;access to an eHealth tool, the COPD Web. The main results reflected healthcare professionals9 experiences in the categories: <i>managing initial barriers, receiving competence support, supporting self-management</i>, and <i>improving quality of care</i>. These categories highlight structural and external barriers that need to be addressed before an eHealth tool could be successfully implemented within daily praxis. Nevertheless, using an eHealth tool such as the COPD Web was experienced to provide knowledge support for the healthcare professional, leading to adaptation (and facilitation) of working procedures and patient centered-care - improving quality of care through enhanced patient contact and encouragement of interprofessional collaborations. Notably, healthcare professionals also experienced that use of the COPD Web (among their patients) led to more well-informed and well-educated patients that were better equipped and complied better with the treatment, thus increasing their ability for self-management – altoghether improving COPD management.