Does a telemedicine application combined with a nurse avatar provide acceptable system usability and patient satisfaction in heart failure outpatients?
A nurse look-a-like avatar integrated into a telemedicine application was positively assessed for usability and satisfaction by heart failure patients over 3 months.
BACKGROUND: Heart failure is a severe condition and telemedicine can improve the care of heart failure. Many patients are unable to use telemedicine applications due to visual impairment and limited health-related literacy. Avatar technology might help to overcome these limitations. METHODS: A telemedicine application was combined with a nurse avatar and offered to heart failure outpatients for 3 months. System usability and patient satisfaction were evaluated monthly by the system usability score (maximum score=100) and the patient satisfaction scale (maximum score=50). RESULTS: In total, 37 heart failure patients were enrolled. The mean system usability score after 1 month was 73 (standard deviation=24) and 72 (standard deviation=10) after 3 months of follow-up, which was not significantly different (p = 0.40). The mean patient satisfaction scale after 1 month was 42 (standard deviation=5) and 39 (standard deviation=8) after 3 months, which was not significantly different (p = 0.10). CONCLUSION: A nurse look-a-like avatar integrated into a telemedicine application was positively assessed by heart failure patients. Future studies are warranted to clarify the role of avatar technology in telemedicine.
Gingele et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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