title: Engaging hospitalized patients in clinical care: Study protocol for a pragmatic randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients who are better informed and more engaged in their health care have higher satisfaction with health care and better health outcomes. While patient engagement has been a focus in the outpatient setting, strategies to engage inpatients in their care have not been well studied. We are undertaking a study to assess how patients' information needs during hospitalization can be addressed with health information technologies. To achieve this aim, we developed a personalized inpatient portal that allows patients to see who is on their care team, monitor their vital signs, review medications being administered, review current and historical lab and test results, confirm allergies, document pain scores and send questions and comments to inpatient care providers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the protocol for the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  This pragmatic randomized controlled trial will enroll 426 inpatient cardiology patients at an urban academic medical center into one of three arms receiving: 1) usual care, 2) iPad with general internet access, or 3) iPad with access to the personalized inpatient portal. The primary outcome of this trial is patient engagement, which is measured through the Patient Activation Measure. To assess scalability and potential reach of the intervention, we are partnering with a West Coast community hospital to deploy the patient engagement technology in their environment with an additional 160 participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study employs a pragmatic randomized control trial design to test whether a personalized inpatient portal will improve patient engagement. If the study is successful, continuing advances in mobile computing technology should make these types of interventions available in a variety of clinical care delivery settings.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, School of Nursing, 617 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masterson Creber
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, 20, Presbyterian Building, 622 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prey
authors.affiliation: The Value Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital, 622 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, 20, Presbyterian Building, 622 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Irma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alarcon
authors.affiliation: Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th St. R645, New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, School of Nursing, 617 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bakken
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Columbia University, 500 W. 120th St., 450 CS Building, New York, NY 10027, United States.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, 20, Presbyterian Building, 622 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hripcsak
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, 20, Presbyterian Building, 622 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Polubriaginof
authors.affiliation: New York Presbyterian Hospital, 622 W 168th St. #137, New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Restaino
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, School of Nursing, 617 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schnall
authors.affiliation: El Camino Hospital, 2500 Grant Rd., Mountain View, CA 94040, United States.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Strong
authors.affiliation: The Value Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital, 622 W 168th St., New York, NY 10032, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vawdrey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D033283:Patient Access to Records; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000379:methods*; D000072638:Patient Portals; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Inpatient portal; Medical informatics; Patient activation; Patient engagement; Patient-centered care; Pragmatic clinical trial; Randomized controlled trial