Darcy Ummels

152 | Chapter 7 The implementation of eHealth in healthcare might be more urgent now than in past years. Due to COVID ‐ 19 pandemic measures, a major part of healthcare has recently been remotely performed. Providing healthcare remotely also means measuring remotely, and the COVID ‐ 19 pandemic has proved to be a huge driver of the implementation of eHealth. 57 To create sustained use, the focus should be on embedding eHealth in the process of daily care and clinical reasoning. Current healthcare systems face challenges in keeping healthcare sustainable. It is predicted that by 2040 there will be 9.8 million people with chronic diseases 58 and 1.6 million people who are 80 years or older 59 in the Netherlands. eHealth, including activity trackers, could be part of the solution to keeping healthcare sustainable. It has the potential to reduce workload, support self ‐ management of patients, and monitor and analyse patients to proactively intervene. 46,60,61 Implications for research, education and practice The following section describes the implications of the results of this dissertation for research, education and practice to facilitate the meaningful use of activity trackers in healthcare. Implications for research For researchers in the field of activity trackers and health technology, it is recommended that they:  Focus on further research on the implementation of activity trackers in daily clinical practice with the active involvement of all stakeholders to the full extent of the participation roles (informing, consultation, placation, partnership, delegation or citizen control) by using co ‐ creation methods and participatory action research designs.  Use the knowledge and expertise of healthcare professionals regarding daily routines and clinical reasoning when implementing innovations such as activity trackers in their daily clinical practice.  Be aware of the limited validity and feasibility of current commercially available activity trackers when using them to measure activities of daily living in studies of older adults with or without chronic disease and (older) adults with a chronic disease.