Patient and physician perspectives on training to improve communication through secure messaging: Clarifying the...

The aim of the study was to incorporate the perspectives of both patients and providers into the development of training to improve the exchange of secure messages through a patient portal as well as to identify management strategies that support patient engagement.

Three patient focus groups (17 patients) and interviews with 21 ambulatory physicians across 17 outpatient clinics at a large Midwestern academic medical center using Epic MyChart were performed. Rigorous thematic analysis was guided by the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety 2.0 framework adapted to patient portal implementation.

Patients and physicians identified strategies at the patient, portal, physician, and health system levels that could help each group navigate the portal to communicate via secure messages more efficiently. Patient-focused training strategies included multimodal materials addressing how to navigate portal features and direction on when, what, and how to message. Changes to the format of the messaging feature and pop-ups with communication tips were also frequently mentioned. Physician and clinic-level strategies focused on how the clinic and health system management could enhance physician training on the patient-facing portal features and on how to manage patient care within the portal. Physicians also requested that the health system administration standardize physician and care team work processes related to secure messages within the portal and communicate clear management expectations of physician portal management.

As communication via secure messaging has become more common, our study identified patient, physician, portal and health system-level management and training strategies to enhance patient portal use.

Health system administrators and outpatient clinic management could implement these strategies to clarify the rules of engagement in the collaborative work of incorporating a patient portal into the primary care workflow and facilitating provider and patient use.