JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

For older adults returning home from a hospital stay in geriatric rehabilitation, remembering the plethora of medical advice and medical instructions provided can be overwhelming for them and for their caregivers.

Objective:

The purpose of this project was to develop and test the feasibility of a novel web-based application called MyPath to Home that can be used to manage the personalized needs of geriatric rehabilitation patients during their transitions from hospital to home.

Methods:

This study consisted of (1) co-designing a patient- and clinician-tailored application, and (2) feasibility pilot testing of the application to manage the needs of geriatric rehabilitation patients when leaving the hospital. In phase 1, we followed a user-centered design process integrated with modern agile software development methodology to iteratively co-design the MyPath to Home application. In phase 2, we conducted a single-arm feasibility pilot test of MyPath to Home.

Results:

Phase 1: Semi-structured interviews and talk-aloud sessions were conducted with patients/caregivers (n=5) and clinicians (n=17) to design the application. Phase 2: Patients (n=30), caregivers (n=18), and clinicians (n=20) participated. A total of 91.3% (n=21) patients/ caregivers would recommend this application to other patients. In addition, clinicians (n=6), and patients /caregivers (n=6) were interviewed to obtain further details on the value of the web-based application with respect to empowering patients and facilitating communication and sharing of information with the health care team.

Conclusions:

We were successful at designing the MyPath to Home prototype for patients and their caregivers to engage with their clinicians during their transition from geriatric rehabilitation to home. Further work is needed to increase the uptake and usage by clinicians, and determine if this translates into meaningful changes in clinical and functional outcomes.