Mrs Meaghan Maher1, Jennifer Langford1, Julie Louie1, Jane Jolley1, Aruska D'Souza1, Kath Feely1,2,3,4,5
1Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia, 2Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Parkville, Australia, 3The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Australia, 4The Royal Women’s Hospital, Parkville, Australia, 5The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
Biography:
Having spent over 12 years in various healthcare settings as a dietitian, Meaghan currently serves as an Allied Health Clinical Informatics Officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Meaghan's focus is bridging the gap between Allied Health clinicians and EMR analysts by blending clinical excellence and technological innovation. She is passionate about leveraging healthcare technology to streamline processes, improve clinician experience and elevate patient care standards.
Abstract:
Purpose:
To provide an iterative approach to increasing patient engagement and clinician adoption of an inpatient portal – an online platform for accessing health records.
Problem:
Our hospital successfully integrated a patient portal into outpatient services. Expanding this technology to inpatient settings has been challenging due to concerns from clinicians. Without clinician adoption, patient engagement remained low. We adopted a collaborative and iterative approach for portal implementation on the inpatient rehabilitation ward.
Approach:
We established a working group of clinicians and consumers, provided staff in-services promoting the benefits of sharing health information with patients and provided demonstrations of the portal. Strategies to boost adoption included displaying usage metrics, providing promotional materials, updating staff orientation and adding EMR note-sharing prompts. Using the RE-AIM framework, we collected regular feedback from patients and clinicians and shared EMR and portal usage data with ward staff.
Outcome:
Over five months, patient engagement steadily increased. The proportion of inpatients using the portal rose from 16% to 34%, and shared notes read by patients grew from 0% to 15%. Patient’s viewing their therapy schedules and health data increased by 145% and 150% respectively.
Clinician adoption also improved, with sharing of a weekly summary note rising from 14% to 69% and overall rehabilitation patient sign-ups surpassing the hospital average.
Conclusion:
Inpatient portal engagement and adoption and was initially low but improved with targeted strategies informed by using the RE-AIM framework. Success was driven by a multifaceted, iterative approach involving both consumers and staff beyond the initial launch.