This study was registered on on October 9, 2018. Stakeholder feedback gathered on the sociotechnical aspects of the technology should be taken into consideration to guide the design, implementation and evaluation of future telemedicine interventions in primary care. The implementation and use of telemedicine for hypertension management can engender various benefits and challenges to patients, healthcare professionals and the healthcare system. Participants suggested patient segmentation for the intervention to be more targeted, wished for a more user-friendly equipment and proposed allocating more resources to the intervention. Nevertheless, participants highlighted challenges with usability of the equipment and management portal, data access, and some expressed technology anxiety. Healthcare professionals found that the intervention helped to manage workload by freeing up time for other urgent matters. Patients appreciated that the intervention helped form a habit of regular blood pressure monitoring, improved their self-management, and provided reassurance that they were being monitored by the care team.

Patients and healthcare professionals liked the convenience resulting from the intervention and saw an improvement in the patient-provider relationship. The factors involved in the implementation and use of the intervention are complex and interdependent. Data were analyzed inductively to identify emergent themes which were then grouped into the dimensions of the socio-technical systems model to study the interactions between the technical, individual and organizational factors involved in the process. Each interview was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted in English or Mandarin with thirteen patients and eight healthcare professionals. Patients were selected purposively and invited to participate by telephone healthcare professionals involved in the trial were invited to participate by email.

This was a qualitative study embedded within the Primary Technology-Enhanced Care Hypertension pilot trial. This study explored the experiences of patients and healthcare professionals and their perceived barriers and facilitators in implementing and using a technology-enabled blood pressure monitoring intervention with teleconsultation in the Singapore primary care setting. Telemedicine is becoming integral in primary care hypertension management, and is associated with improved blood pressure control, self-management and cost-effectiveness.

Blood pressure recording chart pdf