Patient-centered communication in digital medical encounters

Area of Science:

• Digital Health Communication
• Patient-Provider Interaction
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Patient portals are increasingly used for secure messaging with healthcare providers.
• Understanding the nature of these electronic conversations is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize patient-initiated messages via patient portals.
• To evaluate provider use of patient-centered communication strategies in electronic responses.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 193 messages from 58 threads collected over one week.
• Content analysis of patient messages and deductive analysis of provider responses for supportive talk and partnership building.

Main Results:

• Patients sent 65% of messages, expressing concerns, seeking solutions, and requesting administrative help.
• Over half (53.4%) of provider replies lacked partnership building or supportive language.

Conclusions:

• Patient-centered communication, including supportive talk and partnership building, occurred less frequently in secure messages than in-person encounters.
• This underutilization may hinder strengthening the patient-provider relationship and achieving optimal patient outcomes.