Open AccessUnderstanding patient‐provider communication entered via a patient portal system
Author(s) -
Sun Si,
Zhou Xiaomu,
Denny Joshua C.,
Rosenbloom Trent,
Xu Hua
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
proceedings of the american society for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1550-8390
pISSN - 0044-7870
DOI - 10.1002/meet.14504901387
Subject(s) - patient portal , psychosocial , medicine , internet portal , psychology , medical emergency , computer science , world wide web , the internet , health care , psychiatry , economics , economic growth
Our study examines patient‐provider communication via a patient portal in a large medical center. Our study is based on 1172 interactions made among stakeholders concerning 100 patients who are randomly selected from the 2009 MyHealthAtVanderbilt.com (a patient portal at the Vanderbilt Medical Center) patient pool; among which, 35 use the patient portal for messages. The findings show a wide range of topics discussed and ways in which patients provide and seek information as well as express psychosocial and emotional needs. In addition, while the patient portal has advantages over traditional communication technologies, it was not the primary communication media for our study sample. More research is needed to better elucidate barriers to the use of patient portals and the optimal methods of communication in differing contexts.