Patients Attitude to Technology : A Way to Improve Hydrocephalus Management and Follow up Using Smartphone Intelligent Application.

Smartphone applications ("apps") have become ubiquitous with the advent of smartphones and tablets in recent years. Increasingly the utility of these apps is being explored in healthcare delivery. Hydrocephalus is a condition that is usually followed by a neurosurgeon for the patient's life. We explore patient acceptability of a mobile app as an adjunct to outpatient follow-up of patients with hydrocephalus. A questionnaire was circulated amongst patients with hydrocephalus (adults and children). Patients were asked questions about their hydrocephalus; expectations for outpatient follow up, whether they have smartphone/tablet/internet access and whether they would be interested in a mobile app for their long term hydrocephalus follow up. 191 patients completed questionnaires, 98 respondents were adults (mean age 46.1) and 93 were children less than 18 years old (mean age 8). Overall 36.1% of patients did not know the cause of their hydrocephalus. 96.7% have a shunt. 76.5% of adults and 80.6% of children had 1-4 shunt surgeries, 14.3% of adults and 11.8% of children had 5-9 shunt surgeries, 3.1% of adults and 5.4% of children had 10-14 shunt surgeries. 71.7% of patients expect to be followed-up routinely in clinic for life. All children had smartphones or tablets, compared to 86.7% of adults. Children were more interested in a hydrocephalus app, 84.9% saying yes, compared to 71.4% of adults. Adults who were not interested in the app did not have a smartphone or tablet. Hydrocephalus management is a lifelong task and innovations in technology for engaging patients in its management are vital. The majority of patients are interested in mobile apps for outpatient management of hydrocephalus. We will follow this up with a feasibility study of a custom designed hydrocephalus app.