patient portal and nurse communication

How do patient portals improve patient-care communication?

Jul 11, 2017 · The FQHC sees improved communication between patients and providers, and views every instance when a patient emails a provider, nurse, or health coach as an opportunity to take a step towards better health. Patients find the portal to be useful and convenient, as it provides direct access to their health care and information as they need it.

Why don't patients use the portal for health information?

Apr 11, 2019 · Patient portals can provide secure, online access to personal health information [ 1] such as medication lists, laboratory results, immunizations, allergies, and discharge information [ 2 ]. They can also enable patient-provider communication using secure messaging, appointments and payment management, and prescription refill requests [ 2, 3 ].

What is the center doing to monitor patient portals?

Table 1:: Common patient portal features. Patient portals have been shown to improve patient outcomes, and chronic conditions can be improved with web-based tools. 8 The patient portal offers an extended resource to engage patients with conditions such as asthma, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and obesity. 8 Healthcare providers can directly ...

What are the benefits of the care portal?

Abstract. Background: Growing evidence that patient engagement improves health outcomes and reduces health care costs has fueled health providers' focus on patient portals as the primary access point for personal health information and patient-provider communication. Whereas much attention has been given to identifying characteristics of older adults who do and do not …

How does patient portal improve communication?

The care team is now able to keep in contact with patients more reliably and ask them direct questions when needed. Using the portal has enabled the organization to be more transparent and interactive with patients, and to proactively send patients the information they need.

How do patient portals affect nursing?

Takeaways: Patient portals facilitate patient engagement in healthcare decisions, improve communication, and streamline care. Less than one-third of patients access patient portals to view their medical data. Nurses can improve patient portal use by explaining the benefits and providing education.Dec 20, 2021

What is the nurse's role in implementation of patient portals in healthcare?

Nurses see the portal as an additional service for patients, because it offers them the possibility for asking questions at any time and place suitable for the patient. Some nurses experience an increase in work load, because patients ask more non-urgent questions that otherwise would not be asked.Jun 15, 2012

What is the purpose of patient portal?

A patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient, 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection. Using a secure username and password, patients can view health information such as: Recent doctor visits.Sep 29, 2017

How do patient portals support safety and quality of nursing?

While the evidence is currently immature, patient portals have demonstrated benefit by enabling the discovery of medical errors, improving adherence to medications, and providing patient-provider communication, etc. High-quality studies are needed to fully understand, improve, and evaluate their impact.

What are the benefits and challenges of using patient portals?

What are the Top Pros and Cons of Adopting Patient Portals?Pro: Better communication with chronically ill patients.Con: Healthcare data security concerns.Pro: More complete and accurate patient information.Con: Difficult patient buy-in.Pro: Increased patient ownership of their own care.Feb 17, 2016

How do you implement a patient portal?

7 Steps to Implement a New Patient Portal SolutionResearch different solutions. ... Look for the right features. ... Get buy-in from key stakeholders. ... Evaluate and enhance existing workflows. ... Develop an onboarding plan. ... Successful go-live. ... Seek out painless portal migration.Jul 2, 2020

What is a patient portal How will the patient portal enhance the quality of care?

Not only is the patient portal a convenient place for patients and providers to communicate, but it is also the place patients go to understand their personal health. Here, patients can review their care plan so that they can adhere to it more easily and gain instant access to test results in real-time.Jul 21, 2020

Is a patient portal an EHR?

Electronic health record (EHR) patient portals provide a means by which patients can access their health information, including diagnostic test results. Little is known about portal usage by emergency department (ED) patients.

How effective are patient portals?

Improve Clinical Outcomes Patient portals make tasks such as requesting prescription refills and referrals easier and more convenient leads to greater patient compliance – and when patients follow doctors' orders, clinical outcomes improve.Dec 8, 2017

How do patient portals improve patient outcomes?

Most of the portal interventions used tailored alerts or educational resources tailored to the patient's condition. Patient portal interventions lead to improvements in a wide range of psychobehavioral outcomes, such as health knowledge, self-efficacy, decision making, medication adherence, and preventive service use.Dec 19, 2019

What are the different types of patient portals?

There are two main types of patient portals: a standalone system and an integrated service. Integrated patient portal software functionality usually comes as a part of an EMR system, an EHR system or practice management software. But at their most basic, they're simply web-based tools.Feb 12, 2021

What is the FQHC portal?

The FQHC sees improved communication between patients and providers, and views every instance when a patient emails a provider, nurse, or health coach as an opportunity to take a step towards better health. Patients find the portal to be useful and convenient, as it provides direct access to their health care and information as they need it. The portal supports the organizations philosophy of person-centered and respectful care, and perceives a resulting increase in responsibility and ownership among patients. Now that patients have a greater familiarity and comfort level with technology, the organization is planning to use telemedicine to offer virtual appointments to some patients.

Why is portal important?

The portal has proven to offer a much better means of communication. The care team is now able to keep in contact with patients more reliably and ask them direct questions when needed. Using the portal has enabled the organization to be more transparent and interactive with patients, and to proactively send patients the information they need.

How many no returns per month for a federally qualified health center?

A large Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) faced challenges communicating with their patients, resulting in as many as 200 no-returns per month. This loss of contact resulted in lost revenue and wasted staff time, and had the potential to diminish patient health through lack of follow-up.

Why is patient portal important?

Patient portal use has the potential to decrease testing redundancy and improve satisfaction. For example, if a patient's entire medical record with a healthcare provider is centrally located within a patient portal, it will be easily accessible for the patient to view, print out, or download.

What are the requirements for a health information technology (HITECH)?

1 The MU criteria require the adoption of a certified EHR by hospitals and providers to achieve specific objectives that are tied to financial incentives. 2 In order for hospitals, patient-centered medical homes, and practice providers to be eligible for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) financial incentives, they must be certified and meet CMS eligibility criteria. Employers are including a specific section for HITECH funds and the EHR within healthcare provider contracts. 3

Is a patient portal a vendor driven system?

Additionally, portal features aren't consistent across facilities. The patient portal is generally an extension of the EHR, so the design and implementation are vendor-driven along with the organization's EHR contract.

Nurses can increase the use of a valuable healthcare tool

Editor’s note: This is an early release of a web exclusive article for the January 2022 issue of American Nurse Journal.

Challenges

Several factors—age, race, ethnicity, education, health status, and health literacy—influence portal benefits. A review by Irizarry and colleagues found that non-white patients and those with fewer years of formal education are less likely to register for patient portals than the less vulnerable populations would.

The future of portals

Portals and the devices to access them continue to evolve. Devices available remotely monitor vital signs, glucose levels, and heart rates, which contribute to the integration of human connection and technology.

Empower patients

Nurses occupy the frontline of patient communication. They play a critical role in encouraging patients to use portals by explaining the benefits, demonstrating their use, and providing reliable information about their security. Easy-to-use portals empower patients to access their personal health data and participate fully in their care.

Why do providers use patient portals?

This is mainly because providers are trying to build a relationship with their patients, not just bolster patient loyalty. For many providers, patient portal use is about building trust and enhancing care.

Why are patient portals important?

Research shows that when patients are able to see their own health data, they gain ownership of their own wellness and are better prepared to interact with their providers about their care.

Why do patients have access to doctors notes?

One study conducted at Geisinger Health showed that patients with access to doctors’ notes actually had higher rates of medication adherence because they were more engaged in and informed of their treatment plans.

What are the features of a portal?

Most portals include features such as direct secure messaging, online appointment scheduling, online bill payments, prescription refill requests, and sometimes even data update capabilities. Just as was discussed above, not all portals will enable all features. While most portals include secure messaging features, ...

Is patient portal adoption increasing?

While patient portal benefits may sound enticing, they aren’t entirely effective if patients do not adopt them. As noted above, patient portal adoption is increasing, but there is still room for it to grow. Several industry experts claim that the burden of bolstering patient portal buy-in lay mostly on the provider.

Nurses Can Increase The Use of A Valuable Healthcare Tool.

Challenges

Nurses’ Role

• Nurses’ can influence and reinforce portal use at every patient visit and by being responsive to patient communication. Portal success may require a culture shift, making patients aware of their right to participate in decision-making related to their health. Talk with all patients to increase awareness and explain portal features, including access...

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The Future of Portals

Empower Patients