Factors affecting acceptance of a Web-based self-referral system.
With the growing availability of health information on the Web, people are becoming more knowledgeable on their health conditions and treatment options, and more patients seek specialists by themselves. To aid patients in requesting self-referrals, we have developed and evaluated a web-based self-referral system in three specialty clinics at the University of Washington. Two clinics adopted the system for routine clinical use, while the third clinic decided not to. A major difference between these two groups was in how fast online requests from patients were handled, which significantly influenced patients' satisfaction. Clinic's preparedness for handling the temporarily increased workload due to the introduction of a new health information system played a role as well. Also, we noticed that the physician leadership/championship made a difference in the acceptance of our system.
Departments of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. kage@u.washington.edu
Eung-Hun
EH
Kim
David T
DT
Linker
Anil
A
Coumar
Larry S
LS
Dean
Frederick A
FA
Matsen
Yongmin
Y
Kim
D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000379:methods*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010358:Patient Participation; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D057566:Self Report