Implementing Digital Health Technology to Facilitate Patient Education for Cardiac Surgery Patients

Healthcare professionals’ perceptions of using a digital patient educational programme as part of cardiac rehabilitation in patients with coronary artery disease – a qualitative study

“…Another challenge that was brought up by the participants was the potentially increased workload for healthcare professionals when offering both digital and centre-based patient educational programmes when cardiac rehabilitation opened up after the Covid-19 pandemic, in terms of taking more time but also the challenge to have more simultaneous tasks. On the other hand, a study by Pena et al [ 31 ] has demonstrated that providing digital patient education after cardiac surgery enhances patient engagement and satisfaction and that patients feel more prepared when coming to out-patient follow-up visits at hospital. This can in turn positively impact healthcare professionals’ workload and increase person-centred care, as it allows the cardiac rehabilitation team to answer questions prepared by patients instead of delivering all the information.…”

“…This aspect was also highlighted by the participants’ in the current study. However, not all patients that had access to the digital patient education system actually engaged with the platform [ 31 ]. This also highlights the fact that, although a large amount of research is being conducted on the evaluation of new digital delivery systems in cardiac rehabilitation, they should not replace traditional centre-based care but instead supplement it [ 32 ].…”