• Nikhil Panda, Robert Sinyard, Judy Margo, Natalie Henrich, Christy E Cauley, Jukka-Pekka Onnela, Alex B Haynes, and Mary E Brindle.
• Ariadne Labs, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
• Ann. Surg. 2023 Mar 1; 277 (3): 423428423-428.

ObjectivesTo explore the surgeon-perceived added value of mobile health technologies (mHealth), and determine facilitators of and barriers to implementing mHealth.BackgroundDespite the growing popularity of mHealth and evidence of meaningful use of patient-generated health data in surgery, implementation remains limited.MethodsThis was an exploratory qualitative study following the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research. Purposive sampling was used to identify surgeons across the United States and Canada. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research informed development of a semistructured interview guide. Video-based interviews were conducted (September-November 2020) and interview transcripts were thematically analyzed.ResultsThirty surgeons from 8 specialties and 6 North American regions were interviewed. Surgeons identified opportunities to integrate mHealth data pre- operatively (eg, expectation-setting, decision-making) and during recovery (eg, remote monitoring, earlier detection of adverse events) among higher risk patients. Perceived advantages of mHealth data compared with surgical and patient-reported outcomes included easier data collection, higher interpretability and objectivity of mHealth data, and the potential to develop more patientcentered and functional measures of health. Surgeons identified a variety of implementation facilitators and barriers around surgeon- and patient buy-in, integration with electronic medical records, regulatory/reimbursement concerns, and personnel responsible for mHealth data. Surgeons described similar considerations regarding perceptions of mHealth among patients, including the potential to address or worsen existing disparities in surgical care.ConclusionsThese findings have the potential to inform the effective and equitable implementation of mHealth for the purposes of supporting patients and surgical care teams throughout the delivery of surgical care.Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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