JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digital healthcare is an important strategy in the war against COVID-19. South Korea introduced a Living and Treatment Support Center (LTSC) to control regional outbreaks and care for asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 patients. Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) introduced information and communications technology (ICT)-based solutions to manage clinically healthy COVID-19 patients.

Objective:

This study aims to investigate satisfaction and usability for patients and health professionals in optimal use of the mobile apps and wearable devices that SNUH introduced to LTSC for clinically healthy COVID-19 patients.

Methods:

Online surveys and focus group interviews were conducted to collect quantitative and qualitative data.

Results:

Perceived usefulness of wearable devices was highest at 4.45 (±0.57) points, while usability was highest at 4.62 (±0.48) points out of 5. In medical professionals, “Self-reporting” was highest at 4.42 (±0.58) points out of 5. In focus group interviews of healthcare professionals, hospital information system interfacing was the most important functional requirement for ICT-based COVID-19 telemedicine.

Conclusions:

Improvement of patient safety and reduction of the burden on medical staff were expected positive outcomes. Stability and reliability of the device, patient education, accountability, and reimbursement issues should be considered in development of remote patient monitoring. To respond to a novel contagious disease, telemedicine and wearable devices were shown to be useful during a global crisis.