Patients’ suitability for digital health - what should be evaluated by health care professionals?

BACKGROUND: The need to optimize health care services by utilizing digital technologies has been recognized worldwide to respond to the population's growing care needs. However, not everyone can benefit from digital solutions. Health care professionals have a crucial role in evaluating whether their patients could utilize digital health. This requires identifying the key factors to be evaluated. We carried out a scoping literature review to identify factors that professionals should consider when evaluating the patient's suitability for utilizing digital health. METHODS: Searches were conducted in four databases to identify studies that addressed instruments suitable for professionals to assess patient suitability for utilizing digital health. Two reviewers performed the abstract and full-text screening. The individual domains of the instruments were extracted and synthesized qualitatively. RESULTS: The review included 19 articles with 12 instruments. A total of 59 domains were found, which embodied multiple perspectives for evaluating patient suitability. Their main unifying factor was a focus on skills, such as the ability to apply digital health information and communicate online, and technical skills. Many domains also contained the ability to take care of own health, such as self-care activity, social support, and knowledge of the health system. There were fewer domains that covered attitudes and experiences with digital services, including comfort, motivation, and trust. Only a few domains considered the technology and facilities required to use digital health. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the variety of instruments and the domains they measure, there is a lack of a systematic and comprehensive way of evaluating patient's potential for utilizing digital health. Professionals need quick and easy-to-use evaluation tools that cover multiple aspects of suitability, as well as instructions on how to use the information obtained when promoting the patients’ use of digital health. KEY MESSAGES: • Healthcare professionals need to consider the required skills, attitudes, health behavior and available technology of their patients to increase the utilization of digital health. • Professionals need evaluation tools suitable for busy clinical work, as well as instructions on how to use the information obtained in the planning and implementation of the patient's individual care.