Developing and Implementing Patients' Full-Scale Electronic Access to Their Health Record.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Patient Engagement
• Digital Health

Background:

• Growing emphasis on patient empowerment and involvement in healthcare decisions.
• Implementation of electronic health record (EHR) access for patients is a key initiative in several countries.
• Need for evaluating patient perspectives before large-scale deployment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report findings from pilot studies on patient access to electronic health records in Northern Norway.
• To assess patient experiences and usability of the electronic health record access service.
• To inform the large-scale implementation of patient-controlled health record access.

Main Methods:

• Participatory design process involving questionnaires and interviews.
• Pilot implementation of electronic health record access for nearly 500 patients.
• Data collection focused on user experience, understanding, and continued usage intention.

Main Results:

• The electronic health record access service generally functioned as expected.
• Patients reported a high likelihood of continued use and recommendation of the service.
• The majority of patients experienced no significant difficulties in understanding their health record content.

Conclusions:

• Patient electronic health record access is a viable and effective strategy for enhancing patient empowerment.
• The pilot study results support the successful large-scale implementation of this service in the Northern Norway Region.
• Positive patient reception and understanding indicate a promising future for digital health engagement tools.