PATIENT E-LEARNING TOOLS FOR ADULTS WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS

Background: Patient education is an integral part of management and care. For adults with Cystic Fibrosis, new procedures and devices may arise. Studies have shown that patients forget between 40%-80% provided during a consultation, hence other accessible platforms for disseminating this knowledge is required. Aim: This paper aims to outline the design, creation and evaluation of three patient e-learning tools. These tools are available online so that they can be accessed by patients via bedside tablets in a hospital ward and personal devices. This research will then investigate usage data from those users accessing the tools in a hospital and non-hospital context. Methodologies: Three education tools were developed which focus on Portacaths, Gastrostomy Tubes, and Bronchoscopies. All educational multimedia was developed and validated by the Cork CF Multidisciplinary team. The information is presented to the user in a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) format, where users can navigate through content via buttons with a series of commonly asked questions. These questions are identified by CF nurse specialists with over 25 years’ experience in educating CF adults on these devices and procedures. The web tools are developed using HTML, CSS, AJAX, PHP and JavaScript. Once the user visits an e-learning tool, a unique identifier is generated and stored in the browser's local storage as well as a text file on the server. Each button click and respective time stamp is then stored in the text file. This data is then analysed to determine the most frequently viewed content as well as time spent viewing content and visiting the e-learning tool. Results: Overall, all three e-learning tools were accessed more frequently by personal devices. Generally, users tended to spend less time using the e-learning tools via the bedside tablet. There was also a tendency for users to visit more general information on the bedside tablets, whereas users who access the e-learning tools from personal devices tended to spend more time exploring the web tools and focused more on care information. Conclusion: Patient education is an integral part of care. From the pilot study conducted by this research, it would appear that patients exhibit different motivations when visiting e-learning material in a hospital and non-hospital setting. As such it is advised that e-learning content is made available to patients in each context.