With a catchment area of over 850,000 residents, the Apotex Emergency Department (ED) at Humber River Health (Humber) is the busiest ED in Ontario. We recognize the pivotal role digital technologies play in maintaining safe wait times, improving patient access to healthcare, and supporting the effective and efficient delivery of healthcare services. Therefore, we have prepared to implement an AI-enabled online queuing system in our ED. This tool will provide patients needing non-urgent care the option of entering the queue from the comfort of their homes, rather than waiting in the hospital.  

Before designing and implementing such an innovative digital tool, however, our Research Institute needed to first find out if patients in our ED have access to and are willing to use the technology necessary to benefit from it. We sat down with the study lead, Aisling Curtin Wach, and the Research Institute’s Senior Director, Dr. Pete Wegier, to learn more about the study. 

What did this research study entail? 

We conducted a survey asking our ED patients about the technologies they own, use, and have access to, as well as their attitudes in general towards technology. We were specifically interested in digital devices, such as smartphones, tablets, desktops, and laptops, that are capable of accessing an internet browser with ease. The survey took place in the ED between January 3rd and February 13th, 2024. Patients triaged to the Ozone and Fast Track waiting areas of the ED were invited to complete the survey on a Humber iPad while they waited. Our onsite researcher was available to assist when needed. In six weeks, 250 patients completed our survey. 

What are the unique challenges of conducting research in the ED?  

The only constant in life is change and the same observation can be made for the ED setting. It is a dynamic and complex environment due to high patient turnover and its emergent nature. Consequently, time constraints are a big challenge in conducting research in the ED, as patients are in a constant state of flux, being moved around the ED for bloodwork, diagnostic imaging, and examinations. This means the timing of when a patient is approached is important and the use of iPads for survey-based research is essential so patients can take the iPad with them on their journey around the ED without researchers worrying about important confidential information getting lost. Conducting research in the ED is also resource intensive as we needed to collect data both during the day and overnight, during the week and on weekends, to ensure our sample data was representative of our ED population. This survey took over 200 hours of data collection, and we approached 432 patients, to collect 250 survey responses. There is also an added cognitive load for the researcher being in an unfamiliar clinical setting with very unwell patients, particularly, as this survey was conducted in the winter months during peak respiratory season. 

Were there any findings that you found particularly surprising? 

Our main findings about technology ownership, access, and use are not particularly surprising as they reflect how technology has been readily taken up by society in general. However, I think what is interesting about our results is how patients responded to questions on their attitudes towards technology. Although most patients held positive attitudes towards technology, they simultaneously held some negative attitudes as well. This indicates that our patients critically reflect on technology and its use, which is an important insight for us as a digitally innovative institution creating patient-facing digital solutions. 

What did the research achieve and what does this mean for Humber and its community?  

By engaging with our community, we confirmed that our patients have access to, and are willing to use, common digital technologies. This suggests that when we roll out our AI-enabled ED queuing tool, the barriers for adoption of the tool by our community will be relatively low. It’s also an exciting finding for Humber in general—it gives us the confidence to further leverage personal technology to improve the delivery of healthcare to our patients.  

At Humber, technology is not a luxury, but a necessity. We are lighting new ways in healthcare – and we are just getting started. 

To learn more, watch the full video here.