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Opportunities shown in personal health record usability
Haggstrom DA. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2011;doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2010-000082.
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Results of the first usability test of the MyHealtheVet program — the most widely disseminated personal health record system in the United States — highlighted opportunities for tailoring personal health record functions to patient preferences.
“Users consistently highlighted potential opportunities for the [personal health records] to add value to existing information,” David A. Haggstrom, MD, of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and colleagues wrote in the study. “With these types of insights, health care systems may move closer to personalized health information technology.”
Haggstrom and colleagues assessed the MyHealtheVet program based on the performance of 24 first-time users with an average age of 55 years from an VA medical center..
Participants tested four existing functions of the program: registration, prescription refill, the health tracker and health information search.
Only 25% of participants successfully completed registration. A few participants had privacy concerns, about viewing prescription names. Users also expressed interest in printing their information to share with their doctors, which is now possible through the ‘Blue Button’ feature. Other first-time users questioned the value of the program when compared with existing online health information, highlighting the need to demonstrate the high-quality to build trust for PHR information.
“Understanding how first-time users interact with their personal health records will enable us to design and implement future-generation systems that will serve the needs of patients and those with whom they wish to share health information, including doctors and other trusted parties. Ultimately, it will help us, as physicians, provide better care for our patients,” Haggstrom said in a press release.
Disclosure:This research was supported by VA HSR&D project SHP 08-192.
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