A recent study found that increased training for both patients and providers can help healthcare secure messaging be a more beneficial tool.
With patient portals helping fuel healthcare secure messaging, additional training for both patients and providers can help alleviate “rules of engagement” concerns, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR).
Researchers found that patients worried more about imposing on their physician’s time, lacking provider compensation for responding to secure messages, and not knowing when to use secure messaging for provider communication.
Providers voiced concerns on a lack of clarity for when was appropriate to communicate with patients via MyChart.
“Unlike the other features of a patient portal, such as viewing lab and test results or requesting appointments, secure messaging allows for the exchange of direct communication between patients and providers,” the research team wrote. “As a result, studies suggest that a patient’s relationship with a provider is a key predictor of the patient’s intention to use secure messaging.”
Researchers interviewed 13 primary care providers and 29 of their chronic disease patients who are familiar with the Epic MyChart.
Both patients and providers stated that secure messaging was beneficial for communication.
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“Most commonly, both groups felt that the ability for each party to respond according to their own schedule increased the efficiency of communicating,” the team explained. “Several patients specifically mentioned the benefit of conversations that could occur asynchronously, according to the patient’s and provider’s individual schedules, without reliance on telephone calls to the office.”
However, some patients were concerned that they would take up too much of their provider’s time by using secure messaging instead of going into the physician office. Additionally, it is not always clear when is the appropriate time for patients to utilize the secure messaging function, the study found.
Providers had three main concerns with healthcare secure messaging:
- Unfocused or insufficient information in the messages
- Inappropriate message topics
- Incorrect use of the secure messaging feature
Overall, the “rules of engagement” must be clarified, the researchers concluded.
Patients need to be taught how to use MyChart appropriately, such as knowing how to communicate via the portal and “understand when to use secure messages versus when to call or schedule an appointment.”
Printed materials could also be presented to patients when they first start using a patient portal. Individuals can learn how to create an account and then properly navigate through the portal’s features, including the secure messaging feature.
Providers will also benefit from a more in-depth training on secure messaging and patient portals, the researchers noted.
“Additional training that exposes providers to the patient view of the portal may provide a more complete understanding of the patient experience and help them to better interact with their patients,” the research team stated. “In addition, guidance could be provided on how to communicate in secure messages or alongside lab and test results.”
It will also be beneficial for providers to establish clear and consistent guidelines on patient portal expectations. Even patients who are experienced with patient portal usage may have difficulty understanding when secure messaging is appropriate and what time of information to put in a secure message.
“While there are a range of technical solutions that could be implemented to improve patient and provider communication via secure messaging, it is important to elicit input from all stakeholders in designing these modifications,” researchers concluded.
“The patients in our study, who were experienced users, had clear thoughts on what they liked about the secure messaging and identified specific areas in which they were uncertain about how to use this tool,” the team continued. “Discussions with patients can help to further refine their concerns and develop new ways to address them.”
Both providers and patients need to have a strong understanding of secure messaging for the technology’s benefits to be fully realized.
A study published in JMIR earlier this year found that provider secure messaging levels can predict their patients’ communicative behavior.
Patients who had providers that were highly responsive to other patients’ messages initiated 334 percent more secure messages than patients with providers who did not personally respond to other patients’ messages.
“Secure messaging could facilitate the development of deeper relationships by increasing interaction time, making patients more comfortable about asking questions and discussing embarrassing issues, and allowing physicians to provide better advice and education,” researchers explained. “However, such benefits are likely to be realized only if patients and providers are both committed users of the technology.”
That study also showed that patients with high initiation-messaging providers were 60 percent more likely to send a secure message than patients with non-initiation-messaging providers.
Increased provider-initiated and provider-response messaging were associated with statistically-significant increases in the adjusted probability of patient-initiated secure messaging among US Army soldiers, the research team concluded.
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