ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Access to medical encounter notes (OpenNotes) is believed to empower patients and improve the quality and safety of care. The impact of such access is not well understood beyond select health care systems and notes from primary care providers. OBJECTIVES: This article analyzes patients' perceptions about the patient portal experience with access to primary care and specialist's notes and evaluates free-text comments as an improvement opportunity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients at an academic health care system who accessed the patient portal from February 2016 to May 2016 were provided a link to complete a 15-item online survey. Those who had viewed at least one note were asked about patient characteristics, frequency of note access, note usefulness, note understanding, and if any action was taken after accessing the note. Free-text comments were associated with nine questions which were analyzed using qualitative methods. RESULTS: A total of 23% (1,487/6,439) of patients who viewed the survey in the portal, participated. Seventy-six percent (1,126/1,487) knew that the notes were available on the portal, and of those, 957 had viewed at least one note to continue the survey. Ninety percent of those were older than 30 years of age, and 90% had some college education. The majority (83%) thought OpenNotes helped them take better care of themselves, without increasing worry (94%) or contacting the physician after reading the note (91%). The qualitative analysis of free-text responses demonstrated multiple positive and negative themes, and they were analyzed for potential improvement opportunities. CONCLUSION: Our survey confirms that patients who choose to access their primary care and specialists' online medical records perceive benefits of OpenNotes. Additionally, the qualitative analysis of comments revealed positive benefits and several potential patient portal improvement opportunities which could inform implementation of OpenNotes at other health systems.
Subject(s)
Attitude to Health , Patient Portals/statistics & numerical data , Access to Information , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Physician-Patient Relations , Physicians, Primary Care , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
This study evaluated the implementation of voice recognition (VR) for documenting outpatient encounters in the electronic health record (EHR) system at a military hospital and its 12 outlying clinics. Seventy-five clinicians volunteered to use VR, and 64 (85 percent) responded to an online questionnaire post implementation to identify variables related to VR continuance or discontinuance. The variables investigated were user characteristics, training experience, logistics, and VR utility. Forty-four respondents (69 percent) continued to use VR and overall felt that the software was accurate, was faster than typing, improved note quality, and permitted closing a patient encounter the same day. The discontinuation rate of 31 percent was related to location at an outlying clinic and perceptions of inadequacy of training, decreased productivity due to VR inaccuracies, and no improvement in note quality. Lessons learned can impact future deployment of VR in other military and civilian healthcare facilities.
