Development and clinical testing of an app for audio-recording hospital consultations for oncology patients.

Information regarding user experience, and how functions and processes of the new technology interacts with users and existing processes in the healthcare setting are required to properly inform and facilitate long-term implementation. This study used patient and family and health professional feedback to understand the user experience of the app, and barriers, facilitators and strategies for implementation. Piloting SecondEars in an operational clinical setting was useful in determining how both patients and clinic staff interacted with the app in conjunction with balancing their needs as a patient or role as a health professional. Combined data from the MARS and the patient interview provided a comprehensive indication of user experience, and perspectives of acceptability, utility and satisfaction of SecondEars. Comments about design and function focused on how simple the functions were, and how easy people found the app to use. Overwhelmingly health professionals viewed SecondEars as a tool which would enable them to improve patient care, and to improve the efficiency and quality of their work, describing two key facilitators to health professional uptake of new technologies found in previous implementation studies. However pilot testing was only conducted in one location, due to time and costing limitations. It is likely that SecondEars would be beneficial in other healthcare settings, however it would be beneficial to pilot test in other locations.