Patient empowerment and the electronic health record

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the issue of patients viewing and controlling their Electronic Health Record (EHR), and some of the issues that an EHR would raise in terms of patient empowerment. The research was carried out with a random sample of patients from the Hadfield Medical Centre (HMC), Derbyshire and utilised a survey methodology supplemented by a few interviews. The research investigated the nature and scope of demand from patients for empowerment in terms of their own health, and the EHR. It took into account demographics. It was found that a majority of patients wish to be empowered through viewing their health record, though most prefer to use paper rather than an electronic medium. A significant majority of patients do not want to control their health record. It was found that of the demographic variables investigated, age and level of education were the only ones that had a significant impact on a patient's desire to be empowered and their desire to view their health records. The results have implications both locally and nationally for the development of electronic health records and the ultimate acceptance of such records may be linked to the general extent of computer literacy within the population rather than the views of individuals about their health.