title: Is HealthPathways effective? An online survey of hospital clinicians, general practitioners and practice nurses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  An online survey was used to determine the perceptions of healthcare professionals in Canterbury on HealthPathways, a website that provides clinical and referral information for general practice teams, relevant to locally available health services and resources.
  
  
  METHODS
  The survey questionnaire included questions on the effectiveness and ease-of-use of the website, computer literacy and use of online clinical guidance systems. Differences in the responses between work groups were analysed using the Mann-Whitney test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  249/480 (52%) of general practitioners, 72/156 (46%) of practice nurses, and 43/66 (65%) of hospital clinicians completed the questionnaire. Approximately 90-95% of general practice teams considered the website was easy to use and had contributed to both an increase and improvement of care in the community, with about 50% stating that it had improved their relationships with patients and hospital clinicians. Minor concerns included the website's increasing size and prescriptive nature and that it increased the duration of a patient consultation. Approximately 60% of hospital clinicians reported improvements in referral quality and triage and working relationships with general practices since the introduction of HealthPathways.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HealthPathways has achieved a high level of acceptance in both primary and secondary care, and has therefore acted as a valuable change management tool increasing healthcare integration in Canterbury.
authors: The Canterbury Initiative, 4th floor, The Princes Margaret Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand. mcgeochg@gmail.com.
authors: Graham
authors: G
authors: McGeoch
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: McGeoch
authors: Brett
authors: B
authors: Shand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003197:Computer Literacy; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires