When I introduce patients to Flo, I make sure to explain everything as clearly as I can; I try to make sure the patients understand that Flo isn’t a real person, she’s a computer system that will send them text messages, like a helpful friend. We do sometimes have patients who aren’t keen because they feel like “Big Brother is watching them”, but the majority say “Yeah I’ll give it a go!”. I don’t have many patients that drop or opt out, so obviously they don’t mind using Flo and think that she’s a good idea.
We do get occasional feedback from patients; I ask them how they’re doing, and how they’re getting on.
Patients tell me their epilepsy is much improved, and that they found Flo useful; as far as I know, I’ve not heard any negative feedback from my patients who use Flo. I think that it is
convenient for patients, particularly teenagers, as they always have their phone with them, and
Flo’s messages aren’t intrusive.
Using Flo as a clinician
As I started using Flo I found that it was plain sailing – it was simple and easy for me to get to grips with and use. We do have some issues where patients come in and when I ask if they are still getting messages from Flo, and they say “Oh no I’ve changed my phone number”, but they haven’t told me. I know that could be helped if there were some messages where Flo would ask them to reply, but I would prefer to keep things simple and light-touch for my patients. I think that sometimes when you put too much demand on patients, they can withdraw from it to a certain extent.
In terms of me using Flo day to day with patients, I find Flo very useful and very accessible. With the PC that I use in clinic, I can just open up Flo online and add protocols or patients with their phone number there and then. The ease of it is very, very good, and I would recommend Flo to other clinicians.
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Patient Evaluation
Conor has also been developing some patient evaluation questions that Flo can send to his patients.
- Does Flo help you to remember to take your medication as prescribed?
- Has Flo helped you to self-manage your condition better?
- Would you recommend Flo to your friends and family?
"Of the patients who responded,
all told us that they found Flo helped them to remember to take their medication and that they would recommend Flo to friends and family, while all but 1 patient told us that they thought Flo had helped them to self-manage their epilepsy better. This feedback is very promising, and demonstrates how Flo is helping patients to take care of their health and self-manage their care better.
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