Training activity information
Details
Summarise a range of digital health tools intended for patient use providing an assessment of usefulness and provide a recommendation for applicability to a specific workflow
Type
Developmental training activity (DTA)
Evidence requirements
Evidence the activity has been undertaken by the trainee​.
Reflection on the activity at one or more time points after the event including learning from the activity and/or areas of the trainees practice for development.
An action plan to implement learning and/or to address skills or knowledge gaps identified.
Considerations
- Patient generated health data
- Usability
- Patient owned devices
- Health app marketplace
Reflective practice guidance
The guidance below is provided to support reflection at different time points, providing you with questions to aid you to reflect for this training activity. They are provided for guidance and should not be considered as a mandatory checklist. Trainees should not be expected to provide answers to each of the guidance questions listed.
Before action
- What criteria might be important for an effective assessment? What frameworks are available to help with this task? What prior knowledge of different types of digital health tools for patients and workflow analysis do you need before starting?
- What specific insights do you hope to gain about the variety, usefulness, and practical application of patient-facing digital health tools? What is your current understanding of the landscape of digital health tools for patients and how they can be integrated into clinical workflows?
- Have you discussed with your training officer which types of patient-facing tools to focus on and the specific workflow to consider? What challenges might you encounter in accessing information about these tools or in objectively assessing their usefulness and applicability? How will you prepare for these? How do you feel about evaluating technologies from a user perspective and considering their practical implementation?
In action
- As you summarise and assess the tools, what criteria are you using to determine usefulness and applicability? Are these criteria proving effective as you evaluate different tools? Why did you choose a particular framework or set of criteria?
- What decisions are you making about which tools to include in your summary and how to structure your assessment and recommendation?
- Are you finding it easier to assess certain types of tools compared to others? What adjustments are you making to ensure a balanced evaluation?
- Are there aspects of assessing the tools that feel straightforward, and others that require more nuanced consideration?
On action
- What were the main categories of digital health tools for patients that you summarised? What criteria did you use to assess their usefulness and applicability to a specific workflow? What was your recommendation?
- What did you learn about the variety and functionality of digital health tools available for patients? How did you develop your ability to assess their usefulness and applicability? Were there any tools that particularly surprised you in terms of their features or potential? What did you learn from evaluating these? How did your chosen assessment criteria influence your evaluation and recommendation? How important is it to critically evaluate digital health tools for patient use?
- What further criteria or frameworks could you use to evaluate digital health tools? How will you approach the task of summarising and assessing digital health tools in the future? What specific methods will you employ? What resources could help you stay informed about the latest digital health tools and their applications?
Beyond action
- Have you revisited your summary and assessment of patient-facing digital health tools? Considering your subsequent experiences and learning, would you modify your assessment or recommendation now?
- Have you observed any of the tools you summarised being used in practice? Did this real-world observation align with your assessment?
- Reviewing your reflections from this and other training activities, what broader insights have you gained about the factors that contribute to the usefulness and applicability of digital health tools for patients? What are your future learning goals in this area?
- Have you discussed your assessment with colleagues or patients who have used these tools? Did their feedback provide new perspectives?
- How has this activity of summarising and assessing tools influenced your ability to critically evaluate digital health solutions in other contexts?
- How has your understanding of patient needs and the role of digital health tools in empowering patients evolved since this activity? How has your wider practice been informed?
- How might this experience contribute to your future work in recommending or implementing patient-facing digital health technologies? What transferable skills did you develop, and what further skills do you need?
- Has conducting this exercise influenced your own use of digital health tools?
Relevant learning outcomes
| # | Outcome |
|---|---|
| # 1 |
Outcome
Describe the purpose and function of Decision Support Tools in healthcare. |
| # 2 |
Outcome
Appraise the risk and benefits of using Decision Support Tools in clinical practice. |