Survey Results
Result
An assessment of undergraduate students, about their awareness for “Alivecor ECG mobile: point of care device”, has been conducted online. This survey was conducted on students of five departments. In this survey there were 9 questioned asked for the assessment. Survey recorded answers of 43 students who have responded seriously. They were asked to respond the following questions and we recorded their responses as described below
- Which student group are you?
Response, recorded from 43 students, for this question states that maximum students responded in the survey are from paramedic department. 18 students, maximum from a department have been responded from paramedic department for the survey.
- Which year of your programme are you?
This question shows that maximum students responded in the survey are from first year of their respective programmes. This states that new students were interested in the survey and responded actively.
- Do you know of Alivecor ECG device?
When students were asked this question results describe that 41.67% students have seen the device being used in clinical practices by other practitioners and none of the student has used the device himself in any practices. This describes that many students are aware of the device as they have seen the device being used in practice.
- What other devices to detect Atrial fibrillation are you aware of?
The result of survey for this particular question shows that 97.62% (41 out of 42) students are aware of Electrocardiogram, another device used to detect Atrial Fibrillation. Whereas Holter monitor is the least popular device among the students as only 28.57% (12 of 42) students are aware of this.
- What do you think would the main benefits of using Alivecor device on your patients?
Students asked for this question, 75.61% (31 of 42) students said that according to them the main benefit of using the Alivecor device would help them to detect the Atrial Fibrillation. Results show that 65.85%, 60.98%, 34.15% students found the device beneficial for easy to use, portable, and prevent strokes respectively.
- On your prospective; Rank in importance the following factors which relate to selecting point of care devices. 1 is the most important and 5 is the least important.
Results of this question show the following outcomes
On specificity point maximum (58.54%) students gave 2nd rank to the device which is second best rating for the device.
For accuracy 71.43% students positioned the device at 1st rank, most important rank.
Easy to use point has been ranked 3rd in marking by 51.16% students whereas no student ranked device least important for this point of care.
For data transferred to patient point of care 54.76% students ranked the device at 4th position in rating table whereas the device is ranked 1st and 2nd in ranking table by one student for each.
For the last point of cost effectiveness 59.52% students find it least cost effective.
Discussion
Tick the appropriate reason for your answers of questions 7 to 9.
- Within you profession group, would you use this device in your patient observations?
Results of survey show that 88.89% students of paramedic department would use the device in their practice and only 33.33% students least from pharmacy department would use the device. Results also show that maximum students recommend the device for practice as they found it easy to use and quick result providing for tests.
- What do you consider might be the accuracy and reliability issues relating to this device to detect Atrial Fibrillation?
For this point students responded according their understanding and results found that maximum students are concern about its operational skills as the Atrial Fibrillation can be detected several times in a day the practitioner must understand the operation process of device otherwise the results would be incorrect and diagnosis will affected by the results obtained from poorly operated device. Some students are concerned about cost and other effects but lack of operational understanding of the device is most common among all of these.
- What do you think would help or prevent this type of device being used in clinical practice?
Cost is the common factor for paramedic students to prevent the device being used in clinical practices and cardiac students think that proper training is required to use the devise as it requires operating skills for older people. Some of the students said that older people may not have a phone to use this device which may be one of the reasons to prevent the device being used in clinical practice.
Discussion
Atrial fibrillation is most common problem seeing in cardiovascular disease and also associated with high risk of severe stroke, heart failure and sometimes results in death. Recently Alivecor Inc. has announced a new device operating on ios and android platforms which is used to detect atrial fibrillation in patients of cardiovascular diseases. This device is new in market and this research is to find out the awareness of device among the medical students. Study found that maximum students are aware of the Alivecor ECG mobile, a device used in medical practice for atrial fibrillation determination. For this research a survey is conducted on the medical students of different groups or departments. In this survey most of the students participated are from first year of their programme which describes the popularity of device among new students. Results from the research survey states that most of the students have seen the device being used by other practitioners rather than being used by themselves. Most of the students found the device useful and effective in medical practices by the practitioners because of several advantages of the device like easy to use and quick result determining process of the device. Some of the students found the device quite difficult to use by older people. Findings of the survey results show that the device is known to most of the students which shows that students are aware to the new technology in medical practices. It is good for students to be aware of such devices which may help them in their own clinical practices. If students are aware of such devices they can use these devices to make their practice easy and effective for the patients with atrial fibrillation problems. Ratio of students in such research should me more to get more accuracy so that the results obtained can be generalised for further studies.
Conclusion
Students, when asked for their interest in using the device for their observation, are reacted in different ways. Most of the students from cardiac physiology department state that the device is not used by themselves so they are not sure about its use in clinical practice whereas some of them shown their interest to use device because of quick result generation of tests. They find the device quick and helpful in diagnostic tests. Paramedic students want an approval from higher authorities, for the device, concerning its accuracy and specificity. They find the device quick and easy to use. Other studies show that the device is accurate as when it was used for 52 patients, its accuracy was measure good with a sensitivity of 96.6% and specificity of 94% for atrial fibrillation detection compared to detections interpreted ECGs by physicians (Alivecor, Accuracy of AF Algorithm – KardiaBand, 2018). For effectiveness and specificity two studies reported that sensitivity id higher than 85% and specificity higher than 90% for alivecor hear monitor and ECG app. Further two other studies of ability of clinicians to interpret the readings of such devices reported that sensitivity and specificity rates are higher than 90% (NICE, 2015).
When students were asked about their opinion about the issues related to device to detect atrial fibrillation, results show that students think, there are some issue related to its use. They found the device difficult to be used by older people. Students mentioned several reasons like older people are not aware much about technology or they may not have a smartphone. Whereas some students think that people may use it in wrong way. For the easy use description studies reported that the use of this device is very easy. It requires the patients to put their two fingers of each hand on the device and the device will automatically show the readings using the installed algorithm in it. This make it user friendly and quick. Studies suggest that minimal training is required to use this device. (NICE, 2015).
At the last when students were asked about things which may help or prevent such devices to be used in clinical practices. Reports show that the device is compatible with all models of ios as well as android which make its range wider for users having different smartphones and easy to use. Device has its secured cloud storage used to record, store and transfer the data (Alivecore, 2015). The research about awareness of Alivecor ECG mobile device was conducted to understand the thinking of new students about this particular device. This study was inspired to check student’s knowledge about new advanced technical devices used in medical practices. Today seeing the technical advancement it is important to be aware of such devices. In this research 43 students participated which could be more in order to get more accurate results. Such studies make us able to understand the thinking of new generation clinical practitioners. Therefore, a further research is required to understand the issue in a better way with more accuracy. This study is limited on findings based on thinking of 43 students only. In future more devices may be introduced therefor, a detailed study on the issue and proper assessment of such considering the outcomes of large number of people is necessary to make a better understanding. This may help the authorities to find more about the feasibility of such devices in future clinical practices. This study is reliable understanding the primary findings of the issue not the major and general findings.
Conclusion:
New students are more aware about recently introduced device for Atrial Fibrillation detection. This study finds some genuine answers from students in first year of their respective programmes related to the awareness of such technology friendly devices used in clinical practices. Study can be concluded as the new device is popular among clinical practitioners and students also aware of this device. This study will help other researchers, to study the facts, as the response for this study is quite satisfactory to motivate them for the same. The main motive of the study was to determine the awareness of device among students and results are impressive as many students recorded their response. The main finding of the study shows that new students are more aware about the device as per the results obtained. Study made the students comfortable to share their opinions or thinking about the product as well as the general finding among patients. Outcomes of the study are supported by other studies as well. Studies support some of the major finding among student thinking like their concern about the product and surety of device to give a sensitive and specific result of the tests. In future many more devices are going to be introduced for clinical practice use therefore, a detailed study is necessary to conduct this kind of surveys. The survey in this report suggested that there is a need of another study involving more students in order to get the result of higher accuracy. Answers of the questions about personal thinking of students for different aspects or issues provided a wide range of opinions which is the main inspiration for further research.
References:
Alivecore. (2015). Retrieved from Study results fro Cleveland Clinic’s iTransmit Study Published in Heart Rhythm Journal: https://www.alivecor.com/press/press_release/study-results-from-cleveland-clinics-itransmit-study-published-in-heart-rhythm-journal/
Alivecor. (2018). Accuracy of AF Algorithm – KardiaBand. Retrieved from Alivecor: https://www.alivecor.com/research/
NICE. (2015). Alivecor Heart Monitoring and Alive ECG app ( Kardia Mobile) for Detecting Atrial Fibrillation. Retrieved from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence: https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/mib35/resources/alivecor-heart-monitor-and-aliveecg-app-kardia-mobile-for-detecting-atrial-fibrillation-pdf-63499107274693
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