Patient source of learning about health technologies and ratings of trust in technologies used in their care

Abstract

In order to design effective health technologies and systems, it is important to understand how patients learn and make decisions about health technologies used in their care. The objective of this study was to examine patients' source of learning about technologies used in their care and how the source related to their trust in the technology was used. Individual face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted with 24 patients. Altogether, 13 unique sources of information about technology were identified and three major themes emerged: outside of the work system vs. inside the work system; when the health information was provided; the medium used. Patients used multiple sources outside of the healthcare work system to learn about technologies that will be used in their care. Results showed a relationship between learning about technologies from web sources and trust in technologies but no relationship between learning about technologies from healthcare providers and trust in technologies.

Statement of Relevance: The value of considering human attitudes about elements in health systems has been illustrated. This research shows a relationship between patient attitudes about medical technologies used in their care and healthcare work system design. Results show that patient attitudes are formed about technologies used in their care by sources within and outside of the sociotechnical work system.

Keywords:

• consumer health informatics
• education
• health systems
• patient–provider relationship
• sociotechnical systems

Acknowledgements

This publication was supported by grant 1UL1RR025011 from the Clinical & Translational Science Award (CTSA) program of the National Center for Research Resources National Institutes of Health. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) provided support on this project (http://cqpi.engr.wisc.edu). The authors would also like to thank Dr Tonya Smith-Jackson who helped in the initial review of this work.