title: Improving maternity care using a personal health record: study protocol for a stepped-wedge, randomised, controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A personal health record (PHR) is an online application through which individuals can access, manage, and share their health information in a private, secure, and confidential environment. Personal health records empower patients, facilitate collaboration among healthcare professionals, and improve health outcomes. Given these anticipated positive effects, we want to implement a PHR, named MyPregn@ncy, in a Dutch maternity care setting and to evaluate its effects in routine care. This paper presents the study protocol.
  
  
  METHODS
  The effects of implementing a PHR in maternity care on patients and professionals will be identified in a stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised, controlled trial. The study will be performed in the region of Nijmegen, a Dutch area with an average of 4,500 births a year and more than 230 healthcare professionals involved in maternity care. Data analyses will describe the effects of MyPregn@ncy on health outcomes in maternity care, quality of care from the patients' perspectives, and collaboration among healthcare professionals. Additionally, a process evaluation of the implementation of MyPregn@ncy will be performed. Data will be collected using data from the Dutch perinatal registry, questionnaires, interviews, and log data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study is expected to yield new information about the effects, strengths, possibilities, and challenges to the implementation and usage of a PHR in routine maternal care settings. Results may lead to new insights and improvements in the quality of maternal and perinatal care.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Netherlands Trial Register: NTR4063.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Radboud university medical center, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. carola.groenen@radboudumc.nl.
authors.forename: Carola J M
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Groenen
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare (IQ healthcare), Radboud university medical center, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marjan J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Faber
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare (IQ healthcare), Radboud university medical center, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan A M
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kremer
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Radboud university medical center, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frank P H A
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Vandenbussche
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Radboud university medical center, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Noortje T L
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: van Duijnhoven
mesh_terms: D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005260:Female; D055991:Health Records, Personal; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D009426:Netherlands; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D015397:Program Evaluation; D058996:Quality Improvement; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012042:Registries; D012107:Research Design; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Maternity care; Personal Health Record; Protocol; Stepped-wedge; cluster-randomised; controlled trial