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Marshall ADA, Hasdianda MA, Miyawaki S, Jambaulikar GD, Cao C, Chen P, Baugh CW, Zhang H, McCabe J, Steinbach L, King S, Friedman J, Su J, Landman AB, Chai PR. A Pilot of Digital Whiteboards for Improving Patient Satisfaction in the Emergency Department: Nonrandomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Form Res 2023; 7:e44725. [PMID: 36943360 PMCID: PMC10131606 DOI: 10.2196/44725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Electronic paper (E-paper) screens use electrophoretic ink to provide paper-like low-power displays with advanced networking capabilities that may potentially serve as an alternative to traditional whiteboards and television display screens in hospital settings. E-paper may be leveraged in the emergency department (ED) to facilitate communication. Providing ED patient status updates on E-paper screens could improve patient satisfaction and overall experience and provide more equitable access to their health information. OBJECTIVE We aimed to pilot a patient-facing digital whiteboard using E-paper to display relevant orienting and clinical information in real time to ED patients. We also sought to assess patients' satisfaction after our intervention and understand our patients' overall perception of the impact of the digital whiteboards on their stay. METHODS We deployed a 41-inch E-paper digital whiteboard in 4 rooms in an urban, tertiary care, and academic ED and enrolled 110 patients to understand and evaluate their experience. Participants completed a modified Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Provider and Systems satisfaction questionnaire about their ED stay. We compared responses to a matched control group of patients triaged to ED rooms without digital whiteboards. We designed the digital whiteboard based on iterative feedback from various departmental stakeholders. After establishing IT infrastructure to support the project, we enrolled patients on a convenience basis into a control and an intervention (digital whiteboard) group. Enrollees were given a baseline survey to evaluate their comfort with technology and an exit survey to evaluate their opinions of the digital whiteboard and overall ED satisfaction. Statistical analysis was performed to compare baseline characteristics as well as satisfaction. RESULTS After the successful prototyping and implementation of 4 digital whiteboards, we screened 471 patients for inclusion. We enrolled 110 patients, and 50 patients in each group (control and intervention) completed the study protocol. Age, gender, and racial and ethnic composition were similar between groups. We saw significant increases in satisfaction on postvisit surveys when patients were asked about communication regarding delays (P=.03) and what to do after discharge (P=.02). We found that patients in the intervention group were more likely to recommend the facility to family and friends (P=.04). Additionally, 96% (48/50) stated that they preferred a room with a digital whiteboard, and 70% (35/50) found the intervention "quite a bit" or "extremely" helpful in understanding their ED stay. CONCLUSIONS Digital whiteboards are a feasible and acceptable method of displaying patient-facing data in the ED. Our pilot suggested that E-paper screens coupled with relevant, real-time clinical data and packaged together as a digital whiteboard may positively impact patient satisfaction and the perception of the facility during ED visits. Further study is needed to fully understand the impact on patient satisfaction and experience. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04497922; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04497922.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew D A Marshall
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Mohammad Adrian Hasdianda
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Steven Miyawaki
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | | | - Chenze Cao
- Brigham Digital Innovation Hub, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Paul Chen
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Christopher W Baugh
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Haipeng Zhang
- Brigham Digital Innovation Hub, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jonathan McCabe
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Lee Steinbach
- eVideon Coropration, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
| | - Scott King
- eVideon Coropration, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
| | | | - Jennifer Su
- E Ink Corporation, Billerica, MA, United States
| | - Adam B Landman
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Brigham Digital Innovation Hub, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Mass General Brigham Digital, Somerville, MA, United States
| | - Peter Ray Chai
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, United States
- The Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
- The Fenway Institute, Boston, MA, United States
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