Use and the Users of a Patient Portal: Cross-Sectional Study

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Digital Health
• Patient Engagement

Background:

• Patient portals enhance patient access to medical information and communication with healthcare providers.
• These portals have demonstrated potential to improve health outcomes and healthcare efficiency.
• Understanding patient portal adoption is crucial for healthcare organizations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the prevalence of patient portal use among adult patients.
• To identify characteristics of patients who use or do not use patient portals.
• To explore predictive factors of patient portal use using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study was conducted with adult patients in outpatient departments at a university hospital.
• Data collected included self-reported portal use, demographics, disease- and care-related characteristics, eHealth literacy, and UTAUT construct scores.
• Descriptive analyses and logistic regression models were employed to analyze the data.

Main Results:

• Approximately 32.1% of patients reported using the patient portal.
• Chronic illness and higher eHealth literacy scores were significant predictors of portal use.
• For users aware of the portal, effort expectancy and performance expectancy (from UTAUT) significantly influenced use.

Conclusions:

• Patient portal adoption is influenced by chronic illness status and eHealth literacy.
• Perceived ease of use (effort expectancy) and perceived usefulness (performance expectancy) are key drivers of patient portal use.
• Interventions to boost portal awareness, eHealth literacy, and integration into routine care are recommended to enhance patient portal utilization.