UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications
Title
Potential of Personal Health Record Portals in the Care of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders: Provider Perspectives
UMMS Affiliation
Division of Health Informatics and Implementation Science, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Publication Date
2017-03-21
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Health Information Technology | Health Services Administration | Nervous System | Nervous System Diseases
Abstract
CONTEXT/OBJECTIVE: Although personal health record (PHR) portals are designed for patients, healthcare providers are a key influence in how patients use their features and realize benefits from them. A few studies have examined provider attitudes toward PHR portals, but none have focused on those who care for individuals with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D). We characterize SCI/D provider perspectives of PHR portals, including perceived advantages and disadvantages of PHR portal use in SCI/D care.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional; semi-structured interviews Setting: Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Centers in the Veterans Health Administration Participants: Twenty-six SCI/D healthcare providers Interventions: None Outcome Measures: Perceived advantages and disadvantages of PHR portals Results: The complex situations of individuals with SCI/D shaped provider perspectives of PHR portals and their potential role in practice. Perceived advantages of PHR portal use in SCI/D care included the ability to coordinate information and care, monitor and respond to outpatient requests, support patient self-management activities, and provide reliable health information to patients. Perceived disadvantages of PHR portal use in SCI/D care included concerns about the quality of patient-generated health data, other potential liabilities for providers and workload burden, and the ability of individuals with SCI/D to understand clinical information accessed through a portal.
CONCLUSION: Our study highlights advantages and disadvantages that should be considered when promoting engagement of SCI/D healthcare providers in use of PHR portals, and portal features that may have the most utility in SCI/D care.
Keywords
Patient portals, Personal health records, Provider attitudes, Spinal cord injury
DOI of Published Version
10.1080/10790268.2017.1293760
Source
J Spinal Cord Med. 2017 Mar 21:1-11. doi: 10.1080/10790268.2017.1293760. [Epub ahead of print] Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The journal of spinal cord medicine
PubMed ID
28325112
Repository Citation
Hill JN, Smith BM, Weaver FM, Nazi KM, Thomas FP, Goldstein B, Hogan TP. (2017). Potential of Personal Health Record Portals in the Care of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders: Provider Perspectives. UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.1080/10790268.2017.1293760. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/1417