Assess Features and Set Realistic Expectations When Choosing and Using Apps in Clinical Practice

In the next installment of this telehealth video series from the 2022 Psych Congress Elevate conference, Psych Congress Network Telehealth Section Editor, Steven Chan, MD, MBA, discusses the expectations clinicians should set when utilizing apps in their clinical practice and how to integrate them with electronic health record (EHR) systems.

Watch part 1 now: How to Evaluate and Integrate Apps Into Treatment With Dr Steven Chan

Transcript:

Another question we have about apps is, "what expectations should be set for the patient and the clinician when using these apps?"

Well, we want to make sure that these apps are not known to be the cure-all, end-all, silver bullet thing. These apps typically are best paired with an actual human who can guide the patient. It could be a digital navigator or some other case manager, somehow the support, to help them when things don't go correctly with the app.

We also want to make sure that the clinician gets the right amount of data and that the clinician sets expectations on how the patient communicates. For instance, if a patient is in acute crisis or has suicidal ideation that at least a clinician can set those expectations to not communicate via any of these specific apps but to communicate more directly with the clinic or the office through, say, a patient portal.

Then, finally, with the patient, how they use the phone, how they use the app. You can set it up in the clinic itself and guide them and show them what features are available too. Some groups, for instance, may have a digital divide consult or some other consultancy that helps show you the features and set the app up so that you're not just having to navigate it on your own. Those are some of the thoughts I had for setting up expectations between patients and providers.

All right. The next question we have is about, "how do these apps integrate with clinical electronic health record systems?" 

One of the nicest things about apps is that they have the ability to automatically put in data and maybe populate your progress note. But that's if the app was designed to do that. There are also apps that don't do that at all. They don't interface with EHR or electronic health record systems. They might not interface with any other fitness apps or health apps either. They may just have all the data just in one app, in which case you still need to make sure that you can export or access the data somehow.

These apps, if they are integrated into the EHR, they could do all sorts of things like send messages to you, or if you populate your progress note, some apps do report things in the form of lab values. It all depends on the type of app you use. Just like medications and over-the-counter supplements, they all can act differently. So too, apps.

Steven Chan (@StevenChanMD, www.stevenchanMD.com) is an actively-practicing physician at Palo Alto VA Health, specializing in psychiatry, clinical informatics, and healthcare technology. Dr Chan performs clinical research in areas of telehealth and digital mental health, with applications in underserved and minority health. Dr. Chan is a sought-after national speaker whose ideas, thoughts, and research have been featured by Talks At Google, JAMA, Telemedicine and e-Health, Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), Wired, PBS, and NPR Ideastream.