Enhancing Understanding and Acceptance of Equipment Localization: Mixed Methods Study With Clinic Staff and Potential Patients.

Background: Digital technologies, such as equipment localization systems, can help clinics use mobile devices more efficiently. Their successful implementation, however, depends not only on technical feasibility but also on how staff and patients perceive and understand these systems. Objective: This research used 2 complementary studies to (1) obtain an initial picture of clinic staff attitudes toward the localization of vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) pumps and related concerns and (2) examine whether a simple layout change in a privacy policy (using guiding questions vs standard text) is associated with greater subjective understanding and acceptance among potential patients. Methods: In study 1, 38 employees of a German clinic completed a short survey assessing their comfort with and perceived usefulness of VAC pump localization and answered an open-ended question about reservations or concerns. Quantitative responses were analyzed descriptively, and free-text answers were coded using qualitative content analysis. In study 2, 498 participants from an online sample took part in a preregistered experiment. They were randomly assigned to read either a standard privacy policy information sheet or an otherwise identical version supplemented with guiding questions. Subjective understanding of the information and acceptance of the policy were then assessed and analyzed using rank-based regression models controlling for sociodemographic covariates. Results: Clinic staff in study 1 generally reported high levels of comfort (mean 7.34, SD 2.75) and perceived usefulness (mean 7.29, SD 2.69) regarding localization on 0-10 scales. Concerns centered mainly on implementation feasibility, technical reliability, costs, and possible additional workload, rather than on privacy. In study 2, subjective understanding was slightly higher in the guiding-question layout condition than in the standard layout condition (mean 3.37, SD 0.63 [n=248] vs mean 3.24, SD 0.68 [n=250]); this difference was also significant in the rank-based regression model (b=0.13, SE=0.05, t=2.57; P=.01), and better understanding was associated with higher acceptance of the policy, explaining about 13.8% of the variance in acceptance scores. Conclusions: The exploratory findings suggest that, in the context of VAC pump localization, clinic staff generally view equipment tracking positively while still raising practical concerns that should be addressed during implementation. For potential patients, relatively small changes in the layout of privacy information-such as adding guiding questions-may support subjective understanding and willingness to accept data collection.