Communicating with Vulnerable Patient Populations: A Randomized Intervention to Teach Inpatients to Use the Electronic Patient Portal.

BACKGROUND:  Patient portals are expanding as a means to engage patients and have evidence for benefit in the outpatient setting. However, few studies have evaluated their use in the inpatient setting, or with vulnerable patient populations.

OBJECTIVE:  This article assesses an intervention to teach hospitalized vulnerable patients to access their discharge summaries using electronic patient portals.

METHODS:  Patients at a safety net hospital were randomly assigned to portal use education or usual care. Surveys assessed perceptions of discharge paperwork and the electronic portal.

RESULTS:  Of the 202 prescreened eligible patients (e.g., deemed mentally competent, spoke English, and had a telephone), only 43% had working emails. Forty-four percent of participants did not remember receiving or reading discharge paperwork. Patients trained in portal use ( n  = 47) or receiving usual care ( n  = 23) preferred hospitals with online record access (85 and 83%, respectively), and felt that online access would increase their trust in doctors (85 and 87%) and satisfaction with care (91% each). Those who received training in portal use were more likely to register for the portal (48% vs. 11%; p  < 0.01).

CONCLUSION:  Patients had positive perceptions of portals, and education increased portal use. Lack of email access is a notable barrier to electronic communication with vulnerable patients.