Exploring patient and staff experience of using iPads for PPI activity
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patients' and healthcare professionals' experience of using Apple iPads to conduct patient and public involvement activity – a qualitative study
IRAS ID
256332
Contact name
Mohammad Ali
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 21 days
Research summary
There is a long overdue push to get patients engaged at the earliest stage possible of the research cycle so there is earlier collaboration between the public/patients and the researcher rather than much later on in the research process. For this reason there are successful patient and public meetings that occur in various specialities within the NHS. However, attending these meetings can be difficult as timings for multiple people to attend at the same physical location can be logistically difficult. It can be further compounded if potential members are unable to attend due to their illness. For example they may be on home oxygen and therefore may not be selected by the facilitator or perhaps they themselves may decide to exclude themselves.
Previous research has had an online forum to engage the public/patients with the research process. However, the findings were that there was room to improve from an engagement perspective and furthermore the real-time communication was limited due to how forums functions.
For this reason, we have suggested using iPads so we can have virtual meetings which negates the need to physically attend meetings. We have used iPads instead of other tablets due to their higher encryption standards and because the in-built FaceTime is easier to use than other systems that rely on installing a separate application. Virtual meetings where a group of people are not in the same physical location and are communicating via telephone or the internet. Many patients who may not have been considered/been approached about being part of PPI can now participate virtually. In addition, the time commitment is significantly reduced as it would only involve the time the meeting would be held and not the travel time.
REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NE/0089
Date of REC Opinion
15 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion