1. Experiences from patients in mental healthcare accessing their electronic health records : results from a cross-national survey in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden
- Author
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Fagerlund, Asbjørn Johansen, Bärkås, Annika, Kharko, Anna, Blease, C. R., Hagström, Josefin, Huvila, Isto, Hörhammer, Iiris, Kane, B., Kristiansen, E., Kujala, Sari, Moll, Jonas, Rexhepi, Hanife, Scandurra, Isabella, Simola, Saija, Soone, Hedvig, Wang, B., Åhlfeldt, Rose-Mharie, Hägglund, M., Johansen, M. A., Fagerlund, Asbjørn Johansen, Bärkås, Annika, Kharko, Anna, Blease, C. R., Hagström, Josefin, Huvila, Isto, Hörhammer, Iiris, Kane, B., Kristiansen, E., Kujala, Sari, Moll, Jonas, Rexhepi, Hanife, Scandurra, Isabella, Simola, Saija, Soone, Hedvig, Wang, B., Åhlfeldt, Rose-Mharie, Hägglund, M., and Johansen, M. A.
- Abstract
Background: Patients’ online record access (ORA) enables patients to read and use their health data through online digital solutions. One such solution, patient-accessible electronic health records (PAEHRs) have been implemented in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. While accumulated research has pointed to many potential benefits of ORA, its application in mental healthcare (MHC) continues to be contested. The present study aimed to describe MHC users’ overall experiences with national PAEHR services. Methods: The study analysed the MHC-part of the NORDeHEALTH 2022 Patient Survey, a large-scale multi-country survey. The survey consisted of 45 questions, including demographic variables and questions related to users’ experiences with ORA. We focused on the questions concerning positive experiences (benefits), negative experiences (errors, omissions, offence), and breaches of security and privacy. Participants were included in this analysis if they reported receiving mental healthcare within the past two years. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise data, and percentages were calculated on available data. Results: 6,157 respondents were included. In line with previous research, almost half (45%) reported very positive experiences with ORA. A majority in each country also reported improved trust (at least 69%) and communication (at least 71%) with healthcare providers. One-third (29.5%) reported very negative experiences with ORA. In total, half of the respondents (47.9%) found errors and a third (35.5%) found omissions in their medical documentation. One-third (34.8%) of all respondents also reported being offended by the content. When errors or omissions were identified, about half (46.5%) reported that they took no action. There seems to be differences in how patients experience errors, omissions, and missing information between the countries. A small proportion reported instances where family or others demanded access to their records (3.1%), and about o, CC BY 4.0 © The Author(s) 2024Correspondence Address: A. Bärkås; Participatory eHealth and Health Data Research Group, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; email: annika.barkas@kbh.uu.se; CODEN: BPMSCThis work was supported by NordForsk through the funding to Nordic eHealth for Patients: Benchmarking and Developing for the Future, NORDeHEALTH, (Project #100477), the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) through the funding to Beyond Implementation of eHealth (Project #2020−01229), the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland (Project #352501 and #352503), and the Norwegian Centre for E-health Research. CB was supported by a Keane Scholar Award. The study funders played no role in the study design, data interpretation, writing of the results, nor decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Open access funding provided by Uppsala University., Nordic eHealth for Patients: Benchmarking and Developing for the Future, NORDeHEALTH
- Published
- 2024
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