Pre-Session Work

Discussion Facilitator preparation:

1. Gather current documentation: Pull together any policies, procedures, and/or documented responsibilities related to digital health tools that have been implemented at your health center.
2. Develop a plan for engaging Participants: Pick an engagement approach that supports real time collaboration. If your meetings will be in person, you could use a white board, flip chart paper, or sticky notes on the wall. If your team is working virtually, a virtual platform like Miro, Mural, or Ideaboardz might be helpful.
   • Some examples:
     1. Mural affinity clustering template
     2. Miro Rose, Thorn, Bud template: The team could do a Rose, Bud, Thorn for each digital patient engagement tool (if it's a fairly small number of tools).
3. Identify key features: Review the HITEQ Electronic Patient Engagement Tool Selection Rubric to begin thinking about key features that may be important to your team.
   • You may choose to use this rubric for all of the discussions, or you may choose to use it just for inspiration.
4. Consider feasibility and sustainability: If the tools are grant-funded, it may be useful to delineate those that have a sustainability plan from those that do not.

Discussion participant preparation:

1. Practice thinking like a tech reviewer:
   • Download and review the HITEQ Center - Remote Patient Monitoring, Electronic Patient Engagement, and mHealth Apps Explainer.  This resource includes the types of tools that your team will consider.
   • Think about system usability. Perhaps start by thinking about the 10 statements in the system usability scale for your digital tools.
2. Make a list of all the digital tools that you currently use in your work that should be evaluated.
   • Make note of what works well with the current digital tools, what value they bring.
   • Also make note of any challenges that have been experienced with the tool. Be very specific!
     • Here are two examples of specific challenges:
       1. When a single phone number is attributed to several patients, like a parent and several children, broadcast messages get sent to that phone number many times. 
       2. It is not clear how to get into the system for this tool (how to assign staff licenses, how to login, etc.).
3. Reflect on your past experiences with tech: Make note of any similar digital patient engagement tools that you have used in your work in the past and why you don’t use them anymore.
4. Synthesize past and current tech practices: Make a note of where there are any opportunities or pain points with each tool (whether currently or in the past). You might consider the following:
   • Does the tool help or hinder the key activities in the health center? 
     1. Process: Is there a process for embedding the tool in health center workflows? Is the information generated readily available in existing workflows? Is training available for those new to implementation?
     2. People: Are staff members assigned to manage the tool? Is it clear whose duty it is to do so? Do staff receive training on the tool?
     3. Technology: Does the tool rely on data from elsewhere? Is it integrated into your health center’s health IT ecosystem?
   • When considering pain points, challenges might be related to setting up staff accounts and managing licenses, or  getting staff to log in when needed, giving patients access to the tool, integrating it into the workflow, messaging or communication, lack of training, etc.