NOVEMBER 20238In My OpinionTHE PATIENT EXPERIENCE IN DIGITAL HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGIESAntoni Chan, Clinical Lead in Rheumatology, Associate Medical Director, Consultant Rheumatologist and Physician,Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation TrustByDigital health technologies (DHTs) have seen an unprecedented expansion of its use with COVID-19. There has been widespread adoption which holds the promise of transforming healthcare with the aim of improving patient care and population health. This will move the needle from a previously reactive system where the focus was on sick care, to a proactive role which promotes wellbeing and prevents ill health.While many studies have investigated the user experience (Ux) from the perspective of the clinician, there is an important and crucial need to study and measure Ux from a patient perspective. Beyond the study of digital literacy among the population, there is also the need to examine the how the disruption brought about by DHTs affect the Ux in the full end to end patient journey. The term disruption is used widely to signify a radical longer-term positive outcome but may also raise uncertainty with regards to the safety and quality of DHTs in the implementation phase. For this reason, it is vital that the patient experience is measured to ensure the optimal outcome of health and wellbeing. In order to do this, I believe there are three important aspects of Ux.Firstly, DHTs must be patient centric. The digital cultural transformation that is sought can only come when patients see the value of using the DHT. It's the "What's in it for me?" task that DHTs should provide for the optimal Ux. Patients should have access to data that allows improved clinician-patient interaction and shared decision making. Democratisation of data and knowledge using DHTs will lead to healthcare being more personalised. It also promotes equity and the democratisation of decision making. This leads the fully informed and consensus achieving high quality decisions which improve patient outcomes. It improves patient satisfaction and safety.Secondly, DHTs must be interactive. In my previous article, I talked about the 3 I's of successful Antoni Chan
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