Using Multimedia Digital Health to Enable and Engage Pediatric Inpatients and Their Parents

Using Multimedia Digital Health to Enable and Engage Pediatric Inpatients and Their Parents: A Pilot Study

This project leverages digital health technology to support patient engagement and shared decision-making between families, patients, and providers. The investigators will start by finalizing the educational module and adding randomization for the trial (Aim 1). The investigators will then complete iterative user testing in the live system through measurement of educational module views and usability feedback interviews with 20 end users (Aim 2). The investigators will then conduct a randomized controlled trial to test the impact of the educational module on existing measures of patient engagement (Aim 3). The hypothesis is that parents who receive the educational module will have higher scores on shared decision-making, patient activation and overall patient experience.

Hospitals are not consistently patient centered, contributing to worse outcomes and a sense of loss of control. Prior interventions that promote patient-centered care focused on provider and hospital factors vs. engaging patients directly. No project to date has capitalized on digital health technology to engage families in shared decision-making and patient engagement. The goal of the proposed randomized controlled trial is to test the impact of an evidence-based educational module delivered using an interactive patient-facing IT platform, on measures of patient engagement and shared decision-making. The platform was developed for the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital by OneView, Inc. and includes an educational module that promotes shared decision-making through orientation to the hospital and evidence-based teaching on engaging with providers. This study will provide pilot data for a large-scale trial measuring the impact of the system on patient engagement. The investigators will start by finalizing the educational module and adding randomization for the trial (Aim 1). The investigators will then complete iterative user testing in the live system through measurement of educational module views and usability feedback interviews with 20 end users (Aim 2). The investigators will then conduct a randomized controlled trial to test the impact of the educational module on existing measures of patient engagement (Aim 3). Our hypothesis is that parents who receive the educational module will have higher scores on shared decision-making, patient activation and overall patient experience. The eligible study population is all pediatric and newborn inpatients and their caregivers from June 2015 - August 2015. The investigators anticipate needing a sample size of 100, 50 in each arm. This pilot will generate key information on the platform's feasibility and acceptability and initial data on effect sizes to power future large-scale grants.

Inclusion Criteria:

• An admitted patient (up to age 22) or caregiver (up to 95) of an admitted patient at Benioff Children's Hospital in the acute care units, the pediatric hematology-oncology units, or the transitional care units, admitted to the hospital within the past 72 hours.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Was already admitted and discharged during the study period.
• Not an English speaker.
• Not having a parent or legal guardian present or available by phone to give consent for those <18 years of age.
• Patient is in foster care.