Implementation of the Integrated Electronic Patient Portal in the Pediatric Population: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Reflecting the additional considerations of pediatric proxy access and fewer chronically ill patients, pediatric medicine has yet to use the patient portal as a modality for outcomes measurement. Given the paucity of studies within this age group, it is difficult to measure outcome improvements or the effect of patient record access on healthcare behaviors. This systematic review presents innovative research on the general acceptance of the patient portal among parents and highlights that the implementation of the portal is still in its early stages and has yet to be used widely in diverse populations or studies in a longitudinal manner. Further studies should confirm that protected access to health information and secure communication and information sharing with healthcare providers have an impact in the pediatric population on healthcare outcomes.

Methods to Evaluate the Effects of Internet-Based Digital Health Interventions for Citizens: Systematic Review of Reviews (Preprint)

“…After removing duplicates and initial screening of titles and abstracts, 42 papers were retrieved for detailed evaluation. [24,25,26] which were part of another main study [6,27,28], leading to a total of 20 unique reviews [3,6,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. The overall process of review selection was …”

“…There were three reviews reporting positive effects of patient portals on better adherence to treatment and medication regimen [6,28,38]. However, overall evidence of improvement in quality of care was limited [6], and there was a lack of studies investigating long-term health outcomes [32]. As most of the patient portal evaluations targeted online interventions for chronic disease management (e.g.…”

“…However, there were also a number of studies which found a higher health resource use [38]. In general there was a high satisfaction and acceptance by users of patient portals [28,32,37,38,42]. Facilitators to adoption and use of patient portals were encouragement and assistance from providers and family members as well as self-engagement, while barriers included lack of skills, desire, or knowledge, technical difficulties, and lack of potential benefits [30].…”

“…Patient engagement and use of patient portals was strongly influenced by personal factors (ethnicity, education level, health literacy, health status) and health care delivery factors (provider endorsement and usability) [3]. Patient portals were mainly used by patients with chronic conditions [32]. No studies found serious adverse consequences [38].…”

Are on‐line patient portals meeting test result preferences of caregivers of children with cancer? A qualitative exploration

“…A paucity of data exists to describe how portals are utilized by caregivers of pediatric patients. A 2015 systematic review of portals in the pediatric population identified only 11 relevant publications . Those studies assessed a range of issues including portal usage, usability, and value in transitioning care from a caregiver to teenager.…”