Health Care Professionals’ Experience in a Digitally Supported Hospital-at-Home Program: Cross-Sectional Study

Background Hospital-at-home (HaH) programs supported by telemedicine and remote monitoring technologies are increasingly being adopted as alternatives to conventional hospitalization. Although clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction have been widely studied, less is known about health care professionals’ experiences in established, digitally supported HaH models integrated into routine clinical practice. Objective This study aimed to assess health care professionals’ perceptions of an established, digitally supported HaH program, focusing on usability, workload, organizational integration, perceived clinical impact, and overall satisfaction. Methods We conducted a single-center cross-sectional study in the HaH unit of Infanta Leonor University Hospital (Madrid, Spain) between January and May 2025. All health care professionals assigned to the unit were invited to participate in an anonymous electronic survey composed of 14 Likert-scale items and 1 open-ended question. The items were designed to assess understanding of the program, perceived clinical impact, interaction with technology, workload, and overall evaluation. Nonparametric tests included Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. P values from each set of 14 item-level tests were adjusted separately using the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure. Results Of 47 invited professionals, 30 (64%) participated, including physicians (n=13, 43%), nurses (n=10, 33%), and nursing assistants (n=7, 23%). Overall perceptions of the digitally supported HaH model were generally favorable, particularly regarding perceived quality of care, perceived promotion of patient autonomy, and overall satisfaction. The largest exploratory differences across professional roles appeared in items related to the perceived contribution of technology to quality of care ( ε ²=0.46, 95% CI 0.17-0.85), recommendation of the model ( ε ²=0.45, 95% CI 0.14-0.85), and perceived promotion of patient autonomy ( ε ²=0.41, 95% CI 0.15-0.78). No significant differences were identified according to years of professional experience. Optional comments were also provided by 20% (6/30) of participants and were reviewed descriptively, offering contextual examples related to connectivity, platform functionality, and workflow challenges. Conclusions Health care professionals generally perceived the digitally supported HaH model positively. Exploratory differences between professional groups varied by item: technology-related perceptions were less favorable among responding nurses, whereas perceived workload was higher among physicians. These findings should be interpreted cautiously, given the small subgroup sizes and the low nurse response rate. Long-term sustainability of HaH programs may benefit from role-specific organizational strategies, targeted training, and better workflow integration.