Patient profile
stroke, hearing difficulties
STROKE
The participants identified the patient profiles that are more suitable for the intervention than others. These include personal schedules, adaptability, age and digital literacy, health literacy and social support, and physical condition. They felt that the intervention would be more appropriate for certain individuals – busy, retired, adaptable or accepting of technology, possess some level of health and digital literacy regardless of age, or have social support if they are unable to self-manage. Participants also highlighted that the intervention would benefit those with poor BP control and had a risk or history of stroke to keep them motivated and prevent their condition from worsening.Among the study participants, those who were younger and received tertiary education were more accepting of teleconsultation and phone medication titration. Contrastingly, the older patients preferred traditional face-to-face mode of care for better communication or when discussions involved medications. F035 preferred physical consultations as he could obtain the test reports from the clinic and that “through the phone, maybe communication breakdown” as the elderly may have hearing difficulties. HCPs agreed that physical consultations might be more useful for elderly patients, or for those who required monitoring of medication compliance. S003 felt that “patients may feel more confident to have a face-to-face [consultation] especially those like elderly patients” and that people in Singapore are generally “not used to talk to a person over the phone asking many health-related questions”.