Potential of personal health record portals in the care of individuals with spinal cord injuries and disorders: Provider perspectives

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

Additional information

Funding

This study (RRP 09-129) was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D), Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI). The views expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.