Barriers and Facilitators of Key Stakeholders to Implement Remote Monitoring Technologies: a Mixed-methods Analysis

Advancements in digital technologies alongside the global pandemic of COVID-19 have accelerated the adoption of novel healthcare pathways worldwide, with healthcare delivery transitioning beyond the traditional face-to-face model. Telemedicine has gained long over- due exposure during a complicated crisis; as the number of cases continue to grow with second waves predicted, digital modalities have become critical in moderating exposure risk to healthcare staff, reducing community spread, and delivering quality healthcare remotely for exposed or infected individuals.

Remote monitoring solutions are being established internationally to allow individuals to continue living at home rather than in expensive hospital facilities using non-invasive digital technologies (such as wearable sensors) to collect health data, support health provider assessment and clinical decision making.

With the advances in technology miniaturisation, sensors have become increasingly portable, unobtrusive, lightweight, and waterproof, offering an emerging solution to continuous remote monitoring of vital signs. It is predicated that continuous monitoring allows for early recognition of clinical deterioration, and through digital alerting, offers an opportunity for earlier clinical intervention, improving patient care and patient outcomes.

Within the United Kingdom (UK), widespread digital transformations are facilitated by NHS digital, a non-departmental public body created by statute, delivering large health informatics programmes. As such, this study aims to investigate key stakeholder perspectives on an organisational level of implementing remote monitoring solutions, given the pandemic, in the National Health Service (NHS), identifying factors that could affect successful execution and adoption.