John S. Young, Professor of Translational Healthcare and Director of the Centre for Biodiscovery at Teesside University, shares his experience of being part of the Q Lab team exploring how to build staff and patient trust in technology-enabled remote monitoring. The team tested a new device for people with long-term conditions that could be scaled across the health and care system. He explains how the Lab changed his focus, helped in developing this innovation and improved the way he works.
What is your current role?
I’m Director of the Centre for Biodiscovery at Teesside University. I support the research activities of approximately 100 people, both academic staff and PhD students. I’m driven by societal benefit: making a difference to people. The focus of my own research is on helping people with long-term health conditions to have a better quality of life and a longer life.
Scientists work to better understand conditions and diseases. My expertise is creating new tools or services to help patients control and live with their conditions, and for health care practitioners to diagnose, manage and treat conditions.
How did you get involved in the Q Lab?
Mr Jon Murray – a renal consultant at the James Cook University Hospital, South Tees – had begun work to evaluate a new wearable device for people with long-term conditions. He asked me to work with him and his team. We applied for Q Lab funding to test it, to help us better understand the barriers to adopting the device and how we could overcome them.
What was the device, and how did it work?
The device has been developed in the US in conjunction with Jon and I. It sticks on your forearm and can be worn by people with kidney failure or cardiovascular conditions. It has a sensor that measures a certain element of the pulse, which informs us how much potassium there is in someone’s blood. If the potassium level drops or is too high, people are at a much higher risk of their condition deteriorating and cardiac arrest.
Wearing the device enables people to take swift action to prevent their condition from worsening. If their potassium level is too high, for example, the device will pick that up through their pulse and an alert will be given.
They can take medicine to bring it down.
Data from the device goes into an app, which can be accessed by the physician, the patient, and their carer or a family member.
At present, people need to have blood tests to monitor potassium in their blood, which only gives a snapshot of that particular moment in time. Blood tests also take time, planning and resources. The device monitors levels on an ongoing basis.
What was your role in this Q Lab?
I was involved in applying for the funding for the test team and carrying out the first phase of consultation. We spent around six months consulting with patients and clinicians about the device to find out what their thoughts were.
Why was the testing so important?
When you develop any innovation, the key is understanding who is going to use it and who would not use it and why. We need to understand the barriers and then try to overcome them. Testing and consultation make a huge difference to the success of a new innovation.
It allows us to bridge the gap between the creator and the user, feeding back where modifications need to be made.
What might stop people from using a device such as this?
For physicians, new innovations may not fit with their working patterns, or they may be too time-consuming, or it may be difficult to integrate the data into their current systems. Tech interventions can bring lots of challenges – including the potential for errors.
For people with conditions, sometimes they don’t want the responsibility of monitoring a device and they may be anxious about using something new. Some people are also not tech-savvy or simply don’t want another app on their phone.
What stage is this device at now?
Clinical evaluation is ongoing in the UK, but the device has received approval for use in the United States.
Why did you get involved in the Lab?
It was an exciting opportunity to advance a potentially transformational technology that could make a real difference to people with long-term conditions. The Q Lab brought together a diverse set of experienced people and offered us the support and space to consult on the device using the best methods, tools, and disciplines.
What did you think of the Q Lab?
Working with a team of people who were so passionate and who had such a wide breadth of expertise was a great experience and was really rewarding.
The Q Lab team and the model used to support my team, were excellent. Everything we did was informed and driven by the need of the user. It was ingrained in the way we worked from start to finish, so we were all very focused on achieving the best possible outcome for those people with long-term conditions.
What did you gain personally from being involved in the Lab?
Q Lab has given me the confidence to change the way I do my job for the long term. I’m more focused on understanding and maximising user benefit now when looking at new innovations. In the past, I probably looked at patient outcomes at one point in a process, but now it is ingrained every step of the way.
What impact has the Lab had on the project?
As Director of a large research centre, the Q Lab has not only influenced the way I do my own research, but my colleagues’ too; both academic staff and PhD students – about 100 people. The knowledge and experience I developed – making sure user-need is at the heart of everything we do – is being shared with others. It will ultimately lead to better outcomes for people long-term.
Would you recommend the Q Lab to other professionals in the health sector?
I would recommend the Q Lab in a heartbeat, and I would definitely be involved again. This model, which enables a team of experts to work together in the interests of collaborative change and improvement – putting patient outcomes at the heart of everything – is so effective. I have already encouraged others to apply.
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