CHEST Guidelines-Smart-Technology-in-Lung-Disease-Clinical-Trials

Smart-Technology-in-Lung-Disease-Clinical-Trials_c

Pdf Summary

The article "Smart Technology in Lung Disease Clinical Trials" by Nancy L. Geller, PhD, Dong-Yun Kim, PhD, and Xin Tian, PhD, explores how smart technology can enhance lung disease clinical trials. It highlights the use of electronic media, including electronic health records (EHRs), mobile devices, and the Internet, to improve trial efficiency and reduce costs. Key areas of focus include electronic informed consent (eIC), web-based interventions, and the use of mobile health technologies.<br /><br />EHRs have been adopted widely in hospitals due to their ability to enhance patient information handling and improve trial recruitment efficiency. This shift away from manual screening streamlines identification and enrollment processes. However, challenges such as the lack of common terminology and connectivity between EHRs must be addressed for full utilization in trials.<br /><br />Electronic informed consent makes enrollment more accessible for patients and provides investigators with easily searchable consent data. Web-based and text message interventions allow cost-effective interactions with patients remotely, providing tailored health programs and reminders. These can be particularly useful for traditionally hard-to-reach populations and underserved areas.<br /><br />Mobile health technologies, through smartphones, tablets, and wearables, enable real-time health monitoring and data collection. Such technology has been trialed in studies like the Mobile Devices and the Internet to Streamline an Asthma Clinical Trial (MICT), aiming to provide insights on mobile tech's cost-effectiveness and reliability. Apple's ResearchKit is another promising platform for facilitating mobile-based research trials.<br /><br />The use of these technologies presents potential pitfalls, such as data privacy concerns, technical malfunctions, and the risk of decreased compliance over time. Despite these challenges, smart technology offers exciting benefits for clinical research, especially in lung disease trials, though it is still in the early stages of development. The authors call for further trials to fully understand the potential and limitations of these innovations.

Keywords

smart technology

lung disease

clinical trials

electronic health records

mobile health technologies

electronic informed consent

web-based interventions

real-time health monitoring

data privacy

ResearchKit