ED Patient App Informed Consent and Terms Of Use

UPDATE: March 31, 2020

Thank you for your interest in the ED Patient App. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are putting our regular research project on hold for the time being. Our team is working hard to help increase capacity for virtual care during the COVID-19 crisis, and our ED Patient App is being used to help that effort.

If you are a patient or member of the public and looking for more information about COVID-19, please see the BC Emergency Medicine Network website.

If you have recently called the 8-1-1 HealthLink BC line and had a consultation with a Virtual Physician, we would love to hear about your experience. Please follow this link to complete a brief, anonymous survey.

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Disclaimer: The ED Patient App is available for all users on Apple and Android devices. The app is also part of a pilot research study at the Vancouver General Hospital Emergency Department. If you downloaded the app as part of participating in the research study, you must read the Informed Consent information below and provide informed consent to participate. If you are using the app for general use and are not part of any research, please jump to and read the Terms of Use.

Informed Consent

You are being invited to take part in the ED Patient App pilot study because you have recently visited the emergency department.

Your participation is voluntary. You have the right to refuse to participate in this study. If you decide to participate, you may still choose to withdraw from the study at any time without any negative consequences to the medical care, education, or other services that you are currently receiving and/or have a right to receive.

If you wish to participate, you acknowledge you have read the Informed Consent and Terms of Use and confirm your agreement with its terms and conditions.

We reserve the right to update this policy at any time. Users are responsible for reviewing this document periodically for changes.

Your access to and use of our app and its content, and any proceedings arising out of that access or use, will be governed by British Columbia law.

Who is conducting this study?

This study is being conducted by a team of researchers, healthcare providers, and administrators led by Principal Investigator Dr. Kendall Ho, Lead of Digital Emergency Medicine, in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and Emergency Room Physician. This study is a collaboration between UBC and Vancouver Coastal Health. Funding is provided by the VGH+UBC Hospital Foundation

Co-Investigator(s):

Chad A. Kim Sing, Associate VP, Medicine, Quality, & Safety, Vancouver General Hospital

Eric Grafstein, Regional Head, Providence Health Care and Vancouver Coastal Health

Heather Lindsay, Emergency Dept. Head and Medical Director, Vancouver General Hospital

Chris Lee, Associate Emergency Dept. Head and Medical Director, Vancouver General Hospital

Wayne Choi, Emergency Medicine, Royal Colombian Hospital

Kent Cadogan Loftsgard, Patient Partner, BC Support Unit

Michael Lim, Manager, Program Admin & Technology Innovation, Digital Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia

Nooshin Jafari, Technology Research Project Cooridnator, Digital Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia

Background

Emergency Department (ED) visits can be a challenging experience for patients and family members/caregivers. Wait times can be long, communication limited and information hard to find. Technologies such as mobile apps can be used to overcome these difficulties by providing alerts to patients when the doctor is ready to see them and providing online resources and information on their health conditions.

ED Patient App is a pilot trial to assess how an app for mobile devices can support patients during ED visits and assist staff in patient flow.

What is the purpose of the study?

The purpose of the ED Patient App pilot trial is to determine how a mobile app can support patients and staff during ED visits by alerting patients when they can see a doctor and providing health related online resources and information.

Who can participate in this study?

You may be able to participate in this study if:

You are 19 years of age or older;
You are visiting the emergency department for a condition or as a family member/caregiver;
Have immediate access to a mobile device (e.g. smartphone).

Who should not participate in this study?

You will not be eligible to participate in this study if:

You are 18 years of age or younger;
You haven’t visited an emergency department in the last 5 years.

What does the study involve?

Overall design of the study
- This is pilot trial to test the ED Patient App. Patients and caregivers visiting the ED will be asked by researchers if they want to download and test the app on their mobile device. They will be asked to provide feedback through a short survey which can be accessed through the app.

Overall duration of your participation
- The overall duration of your participation will be 10 – 30 minutes depending on how much you want to explore the features of the app.

What are my responsibilities?

If you decide to participate we will ask you to explore the features of the app as much as you would like to, and then complete a quick survey through the app.

What are the possible harms and discomforts?

There are no significant risks or harms for participants in this study.

What are the potential benefits of participating?

No one knows whether or not you will benefit from this study. There may or may not be direct benefits to you from taking part in this study. We hope that the information learned from this study can be used in the future to benefit other people visiting the ED services.

What happens if I decide to withdraw my consent to participate?

You may withdraw at any time without giving reasons and without any impact to your medical care.

Terms of Use

The content of the ED Patient App is for your personal and non-commercial use. The names, logos, symbols, trademarks, photographs and/or likeness, graphics, illustrations, video, music, sound, images and other materials available are protected by copyright and trademark laws and may not be used or reproduced without the prior written approval the party to whom they belong or otherwise as set out herein.
For clarification, the information contained in this app, including discharge and follow up information with regards to illness/condition, wait times information, may be used for non-commercial purposes. Any such uses must retain all copyright notices, must give appropriate credit to the ED Patient App as appropriate, and must what changes if any were made to the original.
Downloading, copying, selling or distributing any content from this website is prohibited except as provided for in these Terms of Use.
Contact ED Patient App at digem.assistant[at]ubc.ca for information on our authorization and release policies.

(b) No Advice or Warranties

You shall be fully responsible for any consequences resulting from your use of the App.
ED Patient App does not guarantee the quality, accuracy, completeness or timelines of the information on the Site or on the app. While efforts are made to verify the information provided, the Site and app may contain typographical or other errors and should not be assumed to be error free. Furthermore, some information on the Site and app has been provided by third parties and has not necessarily been verified by ED Patient App.
ED Patient App shall not be responsible for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damage or any other damages whatsoever and howsoever caused, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Site or the app or in reliance on the information available on the Site and app, including the loss of use, lost data, personal injury, or any other personal or pecuniary loss, whether the action is in contract, tort (including negligence) or other tortious action.

(c) No Endorsement

The Site and app may contain links to other sites. These links are provided as references to help you identify and locate other online resources that may be of interest. Parties other than ED Patient App independently develop and maintain these other sites. ED Patient App does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or appropriateness of the information contained at such sites. In providing links to other sites, ED Patient App is not acting as a publisher or disseminator of the material contained on these other sites and does not seek to control the content of, or maintain any type of editorial control over, such sites.

You cannot use any of our icons or logos on your website without permission, and you may not use a link to our Site or app to suggest that we sponsor, endorse, approve or are affiliated with you, your business or website.

(d) Trade Marks

Certain words, phrases, names, designs or logos used on the Site and on the app may constitute trademarks, service marks or trade names of ED Patient App or other entities. The display of any such marks or names on the Site and on the app does not imply that ED Patient App or other entities have granted a license or authorization of any kind to use such marks or names.

(e) Submissions

The Internet is not a secure medium and privacy cannot be ensured. E-mail is vulnerable to interception and forgery. ED Patient App will not be responsible for any damages you or any third party may suffer as a result of the transmission of confidential information that you make to ED Patient App through the Internet, or that you expressly or implicitly authorize ED Patient App to make, or for any errors or any changes made to any transmitted information.

(f) Access and Interference

In using the ED Patient App, you agree that you will not use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the App. You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or manual process to impose an “unreasonable or disproportionately large load” on ED Patient App’s infrastructure. An “unreasonable or disproportionately large load” is one that prevents other ED Patient App members and visitors from gaining fair and equitable access to Internet-based systems and resources.

(g) Computer Viruses

While every effort is made to ensure that all information provided on the ED Patient App does not contain computer viruses, you should take reasonable and appropriate precautions to scan for computer viruses and should ensure that you have a complete and current backup of the applicable items or information contained on your mobile device. You should pay specific attention to some of the newer viruses that have been written to automatically execute when an infected word processing document is loaded into certain word processing programs.

(h) Choice of Law

The laws of the Province of British Columbia and the laws of Canada applicable therein shall govern as to the interpretation, validity and effect of this document, notwithstanding any conflict of law provisions of your domicile, residence or physical location. You hereby consent and submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of British Columbia in any action or proceeding instituted under or related to your use of the Site.

For more information, please email us at digem.assistant[at]ubc.ca or select the following ED Patient App pages: