A systematic review of the effectiveness of patient education through patient portals

Abstract

Lay Summary Patient portals provide patients access to health records, lab results, medication refills, educational materials, secure messaging, appointment scheduling, and telehealth visits, allowing patients to take a more active role in their health care decisions and management. This article systematically reviewed all literature regarding patient education through patient portals to determine its effectiveness in improving patient engagement and ability to manage their health conditions. The results found that efforts are being made to raise awareness of educational resources in patient portals, that patients are increasingly utilizing these resources, that patients are finding them useful, and that they are improving health outcomes. It seems that patient portals are becoming a powerful tool for patient engagement and show promise as a means of improving patients’ health. Continued efforts need to be made to raise awareness of patient educational resources in patient portals so that patients utilize these resources to increase their knowledge, skills, and confidence for managing their own health and health care.

Determinants of appropriate antibiotic and NSAID prescribing in unscheduled outpatient settings in the veterans health administration

“…Another technical barrier faces patients through patient-facing electronic tools such as the VA’s MyHealtheVet portal, which was developed to enhance patient communication following care transitions and to allow Veterans to review their medications and to communicate with their primary care clinical team. Patient portals can be an effective tool for medication adherence [ 60 ] and offer promise to provide patient education [ 61 ] following a clinical encounter. However, they are similarly limited by usability concerns, representing an adoption barrier to broader Veteran use after unscheduled outpatient care visits [ 62 ], particularly in an older patient population.…”

MSK-Tag beim physiokongress

“…Ebenso macht es keinen Unterschied, ob wir beispielsweise nach einem HWS-Beschleunigungstrauma wenig oder viel behandeln [32][33][34]. Scheinbar neue Behandlungsansätze wie die "Patient Education" präsentieren zwar Hinweise auf positive Wirkungen [35,36], doch auch sie haben ihre Schwächen [37][38][39].…”

Disparities in Patient Portal Engagement Among Patients With Hypertension Treated in Primary Care

“…Patients with hypertension can use the patient portal to communicate with the care team about medication titration questions, review their after-visit summary, view their laboratory results, and more. These activities have been linked to more engaged patients and better management of their disease . Patient portals are used as a platform by the care team to provide evidence-based educational material to the patient .…”

“…These activities have been linked to more engaged patients and better management of their disease . Patient portals are used as a platform by the care team to provide evidence-based educational material to the patient . Patient portals can be used to collect patient-reported data, such as home blood pressure readings, to enhance disease management, which has been linked to improved blood pressure control and has been recommended in clinical practice guidelines .…”

“… 7 , 8 , 9 Patient portals are used as a platform by the care team to provide evidence-based educational material to the patient. 9 Patient portals can be used to collect patient-reported data, such as home blood pressure readings, to enhance disease management, which has been linked to improved blood pressure control and has been recommended in clinical practice guidelines. 10 , 11 More recently, patient portals have been used to invite patients to participate in clinical trials, giving these patients the potential advantage of better care that is associated with clinical trial participation.…”