JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Trust is of fundamental importance to the adoption of technologies in healthcare. As more healthcare institutions globally adopt telemedicine so as to be able to serve more people, it becomes ever more urgent to consider in-depth the views and experiences of users and how the mediation of a technological platform is perceived as altering the relationship of trust between healthcare provider and patients.

Objective:

To date, few qualitative studies have focused on trust in the use of remote healthcare technologies. The present study examines the perspectives of patients and clinical staff who participated in a remote blood pressure monitoring program, focusing on their experiences of trust and uncertainty in the use of technology and how this telehealth intervention may have affected the patient-provider relationship.

Methods:

A secondary qualitative analysis using inductive thematic analysis was conducted on interview data from 13 patients and 8 staff members who participated in a remote blood pressure monitoring program to elicit themes related to trust.

Results:

Four themes were elicited that showed increased trust (patients felt reassured, patients trusted the telehealth program, staff felt the data was trustworthy, and better patient-provider partnership based on the mutually trusted data) and four themes that reflected decreased trust (patients’ distrust of technology, clinicians’ concerns about the limitations of technologically-mediated interactions, experiences of uncertainty, and institutional risk).

Conclusions:

Managing trust relationships play an important role in the successful implementation of telemedicine. Ensuring that trust building is incorporated in the design of telehealth interventions can contribute to improved effectiveness and quality of care.