Implementation of a patient-centered mobile shared decision making platform and healthcare workers’ evaluation: a case in a medical center

ABSTRACT

Shared decision making is a patient-centered clinical decision-making process that allows healthcare workers to share the existing empirical medical outcomes with patients before making critical decisions. This study aims to explore a project in a medical center of developing a mobile SDM in Taiwan. Chi Mei Medical Center developed the mobile SDM platform and conducted a survey of evaluation from healthcare workers. A three-tier platform that based on cloud infrastructure with seven functionalities was developed. The survey revealed that healthcare workers with sufficient SDM knowledge have an antecedent effect on the three perceptive factors of acceptance of mobile SDM. Resistance to change and perceived ease of use show significant effect on behavioral intention. We provided a comprehensive architecture of mobile SDM and observed the implementation in a medical center. The majority of healthcare workers expressed their acceptancem; however, resistance to change still present. It is, therefore, necessary to be eliminated by continuously promoting activities that highlight the advantages of the Mobile SDM platform. In clinical practice, we validated that the mobile SDM provides patients and their families with an easy way to express their concerns to healthcare workers improving significantly their relationship with each other.

KEYWORDS:

• Shared decision making
• healthcare workers
• patient-centered care
• resistance to change
• mobile platforms
• computer-assisted decision making

Acknowledgments

The researchers acknowledge the funding support for the present study from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (Grant no. MOST 107-2637-H-041-004). The researchers also acknowledge the technological support from Chi Mei Medical Center, Taiwan.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [MOST 107-2637-H-041-004].