title: Towards consumer-friendly PHRs: patients' experience with reviewing their health records.
abstract: Consumer-friendly Personal Health Records (PHRs) have the potential of providing patients with the basis for taking an active role in their healthcare. However, few studies focused on the features that make health records comprehensible for lay audiences. This paper presents a survey of patients' experience with reviewing their health records, in order to identify barriers to optimal record use. The data are analyzed via descriptive statistical and thematic analysis. The results point to providers' notes, laboratory test results and radiology reports as the most difficult records sections for lay reviewers. Professional medical terminology, lack of explanations of complex concepts (e.g., lab test ranges) and suboptimal data ordering emerge as the most common comprehension barriers. While most patients today access their records in paper format, electronic PHRs present much more opportunities for providing comprehension support.
authors.affiliation: LHCBC, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Alla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keselman
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Slaughter
authors.forename: Catherine Arnott
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Hyeoneui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Divita
authors.forename: Allen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Browne
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zeng-Treitler
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D032882:Comprehension; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D033283:Patient Access to Records; D017060:Patient Satisfaction