scholarly journals Patient perspectives on the digitization of personal health information in the emergency department: a mixed-methods study during the COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

10.2196/28981 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Ly ◽  
Ricky Tsang ◽  
Kendall Ho
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Patient Perspectives ◽  
Personal Health Information ◽  
Personal Health

Patient perspectives on the digitization of personal health information in the emergency department: a mixed-methods study during the COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Ly ◽  
Ricky Tsang ◽  
Kendall Ho
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Electronic Health Records ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Personal Health Information ◽  
Personal Health ◽  
Patient Portals ◽  
Health Records ◽  
Key Informant

BACKGROUND While the digitization of personal health information (PHI) has been shown to improve patient engagement in the primary care setting, patient perspectives on its impact in the emergency department (ED) are unknown. OBJECTIVE The primary objective was to characterize the views of British Columbia (BC) ED users on the impacts of PHI digitization on ED care. METHODS This was a mixed-methods study consisting of an online survey followed by key informant interviews with a subset of survey respondents. ED users in British Columbia were asked about their ED experiences and attitudes towards PHI digitization in the ED. RESULTS One hundred and eight participants submitted survey responses between January and April 2020. Most survey respondents were interested in the use of electronic health records (75%) and patient portals (85%) in the ED and were amenable to sharing their ED PHI with ED staff (up to 90% in emergencies), family physicians (up to 91%), and family caregivers (up to 75%). Sixteen survey respondents provided key informant interviews in August 2020. Interviewees expected PHI digitization in the ED to enhance PHI access by health providers, patient-provider relationships, patient self-advocacy, and post-discharge care management, although some voiced concerns about privacy risk and limited access to digital technologies (eg, smart devices, internet connection). COVID-19 was thought to provide momentum for the digitization of healthcare. CONCLUSIONS Patients overwhelmingly support PHI digitization in the form of electronic health records and patient portals in the ED. The COVID-19 pandemic may represent a critical moment for the development and implementation of these tools.

scholarly journals The use of smartphones on General Internal Medicine wards

2014 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. 814-816 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Morra ◽  
V. Lo ◽  
S. Quan ◽  
R. Wu ◽  
K. Tran
Keyword(s):  
Internal Medicine ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Health Information ◽  
General Internal Medicine ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Personal Health Information ◽  
Medical Specialties ◽  
General Internal ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Internal Medicine Wards

Summary Objective: To describe the uses of institutional and personal smartphones on General Internal Medicine wards and highlight potential consequences from their use. Methods: A mixed methods study consisting of both quantitative and qualitative research methods was conducted in General Internal Medicine wards across four academic teaching hospitals in Toronto, Ontario. Participants included medical students, residents, attending physicians and allied health professionals. Data collection consisted of work shadowing observations, semi-structured interviews and surveys. Results: Personal smartphones were used for both clinical communication and non-work-related activities. Clinicians used their personal devices to communicate with their medical teams and with other medical specialties and healthcare professionals. Participants understood the risks associated with communicating confidential health information via their personal smartphones, but appear to favor efficiency over privacy issues. From survey responses, 9 of 23 residents (39%) reported using their personal cell phones to email or text patient information that may have contained patient identifiers. Although some residents were observed using their personal smartphones for non-work-related activities, personal use was infrequent and most residents did not engage in this activity. Conclusion: Clinicians are using personal smartphones for work-related purposes on the wards. With the increasing popularity of smartphone devices, it is anticipated that an increasing number of clinicians will use their personal smartphones for clinical work. This trend poses risks to the secure transfer of confidential personal health information and may lead to increased distractions for clinicians. Citation: Tran K, Morra D, Lo V, Quan S, Wu R. The use of smartphones on General Internal Medicine wards: A mixed methods study. Appl Clin Inf 2014; 5: 814–823http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2014-02-RA-0011

scholarly journals User Experience of Mobile Personal Health Records for the Emergency Department: Mixed Methods Study

10.2196/24326 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. e24326
Author(s):  
Su Min Kim ◽  
Taerim Kim ◽  
Won Chul Cha ◽  
Jae-Ho Lee ◽  
In Ho Kwon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Patient Experience ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Personal Health Records ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Personal Health ◽  
Health Records

Background Personal health records (PHRs) can be useful in the emergency department, as they provide patient information in an accurate and timely manner and enable it to be used actively. This has an effect on patients’ health outcomes and patient experience. Despite the importance of PHRs in emergencies, there are only a few studies related to PHRs in emergencies that evaluate patient experience. Objective This study aims to introduce the novel mobile PHR (mPHR) platform to emergency environments and assess user experience. Methods The study was conducted from October 2019 to November 2019. In total, 1000 patients or carers in the emergency departments of 3 hospitals were provided an application-based service called FirstER, which was developed to collect and utilize medical information for patients in the emergency department. This study was performed as a mixed methods study. After using FirstER, we investigated its usability and conducted a survey on the experience of obtaining medical information with a legacy system and with FirstER. Additionally, we interviewed 24 patients to gain insight into their experiences regarding medical information using FirstER. For the quantitative analysis, the survey results were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). For the qualitative analysis, we determined the keywords and their frequencies from each survey question and interview question. Results In total, 1000 participants, consisting of both patients and carers, were recruited in this study. Their mean age was 41.4 (SD 13.3) years. We ascertained participants’ satisfaction with FirstER and their mPHR needs through a survey and an in-depth interview. With the current system, participants were not well aware of their health conditions and medical information, and they were passive in the use of their medical information and treatment. However, they wanted their medical information for several reasons, such as information sharing and managing their health conditions. FirstER provided participants with their needed information and an easy way to access it. The mean System Usability Scale (SUS) value was 67.1 (SD 13.8), which was considered very near to acceptable. Conclusions This study is the first to implement mPHRs in the emergency department of large tertiary hospitals in the Republic of Korea. FirstER was found to enhance user experience in emergencies, as it provided necessary medical information and proper user experience. Moreover, the average SUS was 67.1, which means that participants found FirstER to be very near to acceptable. This is very encouraging in that FirstER was developed within a very short time, and it was a pilot study. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT04180618; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04180618

scholarly journals User Experience of Mobile Personal Health Records for the Emergency Department: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Min Kim ◽  
Taerim Kim ◽  
Won Chul Cha ◽  
Jae-Ho Lee ◽  
In Ho Kwon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Patient Experience ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Personal Health Records ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Personal Health ◽  
Health Records

BACKGROUND Personal health records (PHRs) can be useful in the emergency department, as they provide patient information in an accurate and timely manner and enable it to be used actively. This has an effect on patients’ health outcomes and patient experience. Despite the importance of PHRs in emergencies, there are only a few studies related to PHRs in emergencies that evaluate patient experience. OBJECTIVE This study aims to introduce the novel mobile PHR (mPHR) platform to emergency environments and assess user experience. METHODS The study was conducted from October 2019 to November 2019. In total, 1000 patients or carers in the emergency departments of 3 hospitals were provided an application-based service called FirstER, which was developed to collect and utilize medical information for patients in the emergency department. This study was performed as a mixed methods study. After using FirstER, we investigated its usability and conducted a survey on the experience of obtaining medical information with a legacy system and with FirstER. Additionally, we interviewed 24 patients to gain insight into their experiences regarding medical information using FirstER. For the quantitative analysis, the survey results were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). For the qualitative analysis, we determined the keywords and their frequencies from each survey question and interview question. RESULTS In total, 1000 participants, consisting of both patients and carers, were recruited in this study. Their mean age was 41.4 (SD 13.3) years. We ascertained participants’ satisfaction with FirstER and their mPHR needs through a survey and an in-depth interview. With the current system, participants were not well aware of their health conditions and medical information, and they were passive in the use of their medical information and treatment. However, they wanted their medical information for several reasons, such as information sharing and managing their health conditions. FirstER provided participants with their needed information and an easy way to access it. The mean System Usability Scale (SUS) value was 67.1 (SD 13.8), which was considered very near to acceptable. CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to implement mPHRs in the emergency department of large tertiary hospitals in the Republic of Korea. FirstER was found to enhance user experience in emergencies, as it provided necessary medical information and proper user experience. Moreover, the average SUS was 67.1, which means that participants found FirstER to be very near to acceptable. This is very encouraging in that FirstER was developed within a very short time, and it was a pilot study. CLINICALTRIAL Clinicaltrials.gov NCT04180618; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04180618

How Research Will Adapt to HIPAA: A View from Within the Healthcare Delivery System

2002 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-502
Author(s):  
Mary L. Durham
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Personal Health Information ◽  
Personal Health ◽  
Business Associations ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
Healthcare Delivery System ◽  
Institutional Review

While the new Health Insurance Privacy and Accountability Act (HIPAA) research rules governing privacy, confidentiality and personal health information will challenge the research and medical communities, history teaches us that the difficulty of this challenge pales in comparison to the potential harms that such regulations are designed to avoid. Although revised following broad commentary from researchers and healthcare providers around the country, the HIPAA privacy requirements will dramatically change the way healthcare researchers do their jobs in the United States. Given our reluctance to change, we risk overlooking potentially valid reasons why access to personal health information is restricted and regulated. In an environment of electronic information, public concern, genetic information and decline of public trust, regulations are ever-changing. Six categories of HIPAA requirements stand out as transformative: disclosure accounting/tracking, business associations, institutional review board (IRB) changes, minimum necessary requirements, data de-identification, and criminal and civil penalties.

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