User Experience of Mobile Personal Health Records for the Emergency Department: Mixed Methods Study.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Patient Experience
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Personal health records (PHRs) are crucial in emergency settings for accurate and timely patient information, impacting outcomes and experience.
• Few studies have evaluated patient experience with PHRs specifically in emergency care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel mobile PHR (mPHR) platform, FirstER, into emergency departments.
• To assess user experience and usability of the FirstER mPHR platform.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods study involving 1000 patients/carers in 3 hospital emergency departments.
• Utilized a custom application (FirstER) for medical information access, followed by surveys and interviews.
• Quantitative analysis of survey data (System Usability Scale) and qualitative analysis of interview transcripts.

Main Results:

• Participants desired access to their medical information for sharing and health management.
• FirstER provided needed medical information with easy access, enhancing user experience.
• The mean System Usability Scale (SUS) score was 67.1, indicating near-acceptable usability.

Conclusions:

• FirstER implementation in Korean tertiary hospital emergency departments enhanced user experience.
• The mPHR platform successfully provided necessary medical information and a positive user experience.
• The pilot study's encouraging results, despite rapid development, support FirstER's potential.