Patient-physician web messaging: its role, users and impact on a healthcare provider
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Helsinki University of Technology |
Diplomityö
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Date
2005
Department
Major/Subject
Teollisuustalous
Mcode
TU-22
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
76+18
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Abstract
The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) was one of the first health service providers to offer web messaging; a new and previously untested channel of communication between the patient and the physician. The primary motivation behind this new service was to decrease access barriers and thus to increase the quality of care offered by the organization, although it was expected to result in efficiency related savings also. However, there have been concerns that, services of this type were being used primarily by younger, more conscientious patients and rather than those whose needs are greatest, and are not currently being met by traditional communication channels. Four years after the launch of this service, we investigated the demographics, morbidity as well as communication volume of eHealth enabled patients, and compared it to that of offline patients. This revealed that many messagers were generally older, while this group also contained a disproportionate amount of older males in particular. Messaging is most popular amongst those with a higher number of active health problems than average. However, this group of patients also communicate more than others who have the same amount of problems as they do. The implication is that those who subscribe to messaging may be a more conscientious type of patient. Communication volumes increased after patients first used this service. However, it may be the case that these patients subscribed as their needs increased also. Physicians' attitudes towards messaging are extremely positive. Messaging is increasing physician productivity; physicians are using idle time to empty their inboxes, and are also sending many messages outside of the traditional working hours. Messaging itself is an efficient means of exchanging information, as it is comparatively quick, while multiple message exchanges are rare. There is no evidence to corroborate the suggestion that messaging leads to shorter appointment times, as some had expected. Messaging does seem to increase quality of care, due to improved physician access, although this may come at a cost in the form of increased demands on physician time. Even if this is the case, it may be offset by the time savings associated with substituting telephone calls for messages, which serves to benefit both the patient and physician.Description
Supervisor
Lillrank, PaulThesis advisor
Ilvonen, KaritaKujala, Jaakko
Keywords
eHealth, eTerveydenhuolto, web messaging, online viestintä, patient-physician communication, potilas-lääkäri kommunikaatio