ABSTRACT
Joseph Cafazzo is Centre Lead and Senior Director of Medical Engineering and Healthcare Human Factors at University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto. As director, he leads applied research in the areas of extending the use of medical technology from the hospital to the home and use of human factors methods for the design and evaluation of medical technology. Officials at the Ministry of Health in Ontario, Canada, were struggling to understand why rehospitalization rates were so high among patients with chronic disease, given the plethora of remote monitoring devices available. Dr. Cafazzo and his team explained that existing technology was expensive, worked by plugging into land lines, and was clunky and difficult for older adults to use. The pilot, which boasts a 49% increase in adherence and an 87% satisfaction rate, taught the group some important lessons. Dr. Cafazzo estimates that the improvements they observed were likely a combination of the gaming principles and the social-media qualities of the app.
