TY  - JOUR
AU  - Abdullayev, Kamilla
AU  - Chico, Tim J A
AU  - Canson, Jiana
AU  - Mantelow, Matthew
AU  - Buckley, Oli
AU  - Condell, Joan
AU  - Van Arkel, Richard J
AU  - Diaz-Zuccarini, Vanessa
AU  - Matcham, Faith
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/3/5
TI  - Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives on the Barriers and Facilitators of Implementing Digital Technologies for Heart Disease Diagnosis: Qualitative Study
JO  - JMIR Cardio
SP  - e66464
VL  - 9
KW  - heart disease
KW  - digital technologies
KW  - stakeholder perspectives
KW  - qualitative research
KW  - digital technology
KW  - health technology
KW  - heart
KW  - cardio
KW  - cardiology
KW  - cardiovascular
KW  - qualitative
KW  - focused group
KW  - quality of care
KW  - efficiency
KW  - digital health
KW  - mobile phone
KW  - artificial intelligence
KW  - AI
AB  - Background: Digital technologies are increasingly being implemented in health care to improve the quality and efficiency of care for patients. However, the rapid adoption of health technologies over the last 5 years has failed to adequately consider patient and clinician needs, which results in ineffective implementation. There is also a lack of consideration for the differences between patient and clinician needs, resulting in overgeneralized approaches to the implementation and use of digital health technologies. Objective: This study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators of the implementation of digital technologies in the diagnosis of heart disease for both patients and clinicians, and to provide recommendations to increase the acceptability of novel health technologies. Methods: We recruited 32 participants from across the United Kingdom, including 23 (72%) individuals with lived experience of heart disease and 9 (28%) clinicians involved in diagnosing heart disease. Participants with experience of living with heart disease took part in semistructured focused groups, while clinicians contributed to one-to-one semistructured interviews. Inductive thematic analysis using a phenomenological approach was conducted to analyze the resulting qualitative data and to identify themes. Results were discussed with a cardiovascular patient advisory group to enhance the rigor of our interpretation of the data. Results: Emerging themes were separated into facilitators and barriers and categorized into resource-, technology-, and user-related themes. Resource-related barriers and facilitators related to concerns around increased clinician workload, the high cost of digital technologies, and systemic limitations within health care systems such as outdated equipment and limited support. Technology-related barriers and facilitators included themes related to reliability, accuracy, safety parameters, data security, ease of use, and personalization, all of which can impact engagement and trust with digital technologies. Finally, the most prominent themes were the user-related barriers and facilitators, which encompassed user attitudes, individual-level variation in preferences and capabilities, and impact on quality of health care experiences. This theme captured a wide variety of perspectives among the sample and revealed how patient and clinician attitudes and personal experiences substantially impact engagement with digital health technologies across the cardiovascular care pathway. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of considering both patient and clinician needs and preferences when investigating the barriers and facilitators to effective implementation of digital health technologies. Facilitators to technology adoption include the need for cost-effective, accurate, reliable, and easy-to-use systems as well as adequate setup support and personalization to meet individual needs. Positive user attitudes, perceived improvement in care quality, and increased involvement in the care process also enhance engagement. While both clinicians and patients acknowledge the potential benefits of digital technologies, effective implementation hinges on addressing these barriers and leveraging facilitators to ensure that the technologies are perceived as useful, safe, and supportive of health care outcomes. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.1136/bmjopen-2023-072952 
SN  - 2561-1011
UR  - https://cardio.jmir.org/2025/1/e66464
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/66464
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/40053721
DO  - 10.2196/66464
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/66464
ER  -