The Impact of Patient Access to Their Electronic Health Record on Medication Management Safety: A Narrative Review

IntroductionAs the American’s Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) stated that patients should be allowed to review their medical records, and as information technology is ever more widely used by healthcare professionals and patients, providing patients with online access to their own medical records through a patient portal is becoming increasingly popular. Previous research has been done regarding the impact on the quality and safety of patients’ care, rather than explicitly on medication safety, when providing those patients with access to their electronic health records (EHRs).AimThis narrative review aims to summarise the results from previous studies on the impact on medication management safety concepts of adult patients accessing information contained in their own EHRs.ResultA total of 24 studies were included in this review. The most two commonly studied measures of safety in medication management were: (a) medication adherence and (b) patient-reported experience. Other measures, such as: discrepancies, medication errors, appropriateness and Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) were the least studied.ConclusionThe results suggest that providing patients with access to their EHRs can improve medication management safety. Patients pointed out improvements to the safety of their medications and perceived stronger medication control. The data from these studies lay the foundation for future research.     

The effect of malpractice law on physician supply: Evidence from negligence-standard reforms

We explore whether the composition of the physician workforce is impacted by the clinical standards imposed on physicians under medical liability rules. Specifically, we explore whether the proportion of non-surgeons practicing in a region decreases—and thus whether the proportion of surgeons increases—when liability standards are modified so as to expect that physicians practice more intensively. For these purposes, we draw on a quasi-experiment made possible by states shifting from local to national customs as the basis for setting liability standards. Using data from the Area Health Resource File from 1977 to 2005, we find that the rate of non-surgeons among practicing physicians decreases by 2–2.4 log points (or by 1.4–1.7 percentage points) following the adoption of national-standard laws in initially low surgery-rate regions—i.e., following a change in the law that effectively expects physicians to increase their use of surgical approaches.     

Patient affect,physician liking for the patient,physician behavior,and patient reported outcomes: A modeling approach

ObjectiveTo determine associations between patient affect and physician liking of the patient, and their associations with physician behavior and patient-reported outcomes.MethodsStructural equation modeling based on coding of 497 videotaped hospital encounters, with questionnaires assessing pre-visit patient affect, post-visit patient affect and encounter evaluations, and physician liking of the patient, involving 71 physicians.ResultsIn first visits, patient reported outcomes were strongly correlated with physician behavior and less so with physician liking, while in later visits, patient reported outcomes were directly related to physician liking and not mediated by physician behavior. Physician liking predicted physician behavior, more for female physicians in first visits. Patient negative affect before the visit was negatively associated with male physicians’ liking. When acquainted, both patient positive and negative affect were associated with physician liking.ConclusionPhysician liking of the patient plays a dynamic role in a consultation, is influenced by patient pre-encounter affect, and influences physician behavior. The dynamics are different in first and later visits, and influenced by physician gender.Practice implicationsPhysicians should be aware how patient affect influences their behavior, and administrators should take any prior relationship between patient and physician into account when evaluating patient reported outcomes.     

Predictive factors of positive online patient ratings of spine surgeons

BACKGROUND

Online physician rating websites are increasingly used by patients to evaluate their doctors. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate factors associated with better spine surgeon ratings.

A Tool to Assess Patient and Surrogate Knowledge About the POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Program

ContextIt is especially important that patients are well informed when making high-stakes, preference-sensitive decisions like those on the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form. However, there is currently no way to easily evaluate whether patients understand key concepts when making these important decisions.ObjectivesTo develop a POLST knowledge survey.MethodsExpert (n = 62) ratings of key POLST facts were used to select items for a POLST knowledge survey. The survey was administered to nursing facility residents (n = 97) and surrogate decision-makers (n = 112). A subset (n = 135) were re-administered the survey after a standardized advance care planning discussion to assess the scale's responsiveness to change.ResultsThe 19-item survey demonstrated adequate reliability (α = 0.72.). Residents' scores (x = 11.4, standard deviation 3.3) were significantly lower than surrogate scores (x = 14.7, standard deviation 2.5) (P < 0.001). Scores for both groups increased significantly after administration of a standardized advance care planning discussion (P < 0.001). Although being a surrogate, age, race, education, cognitive functioning, and health literacy were significantly associated with higher POLST Knowledge Survey scores in univariate analyses, only being a surrogate (P < 0.001) and being white (P = 0.028) remained significantly associated with higher scores in multivariate analyses.ConclusionThe 19-item POLST Knowledge Survey demonstrated adequate reliability and responsiveness to change. Findings suggest the survey could be used to identify knowledge deficits and provide targeted education to ensure adequate understanding of key clinical decisions when completing POLST.     

Family Physician Clinical Inertia in Managing Hypoglycemia

AimsClinical inertia behaviour affects family physicians managing chronic disease such as diabetes. Literature addressing clinical inertia in the management of hypoglycemia is scarce. The objectives of this study were to create a measurement for physician clinical inertia in managing hypoglycemia (ClinInert_InHypoDM), and to determine physicians’ characteristics associated with clinical inertia.MethodsThe study was a secondary analysis of data provided by family physicians from the InHypo-DM Study, applying exploratory factor analysis. Principal axis factoring with an Oblimin rotation was employed to detect underlying factors associated with physician behaviors. Multiple linear regression was used to determine association between the ClinInert_InHypoDM scores and physician characteristics.ResultsFactor analysis identified a statistically sound 12-item one-factor scale for clinical inertia behavior. No statistically significant differences in clinical inertia score for the studied independent variables were found.ConclusionsThis study provides a scale for assessing clinical inertia in the management of hypoglycemia. Further testing this scale in other family physician populations will provide deeper understanding about the characteristics and factors that influence clinical inertia. The knowledge derived from better understanding clinical inertia in primary care has potential to improve outcomes for patients with diabetes.