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Numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals?
BACKGROUND: The heavy reliance on remote patient care (RPC) during the COVID-19 health crisis may have expedited the emergence of digital health tools that can contribute to safely and effectively moving the locus of care from the hospital to the community. Understanding how laypersons interpret the...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7592036/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33115536 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13584-020-00415-z |
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author | Bar-Lev, Shirly Beimel, Dizza |
author_facet | Bar-Lev, Shirly Beimel, Dizza |
author_sort | Bar-Lev, Shirly |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The heavy reliance on remote patient care (RPC) during the COVID-19 health crisis may have expedited the emergence of digital health tools that can contribute to safely and effectively moving the locus of care from the hospital to the community. Understanding how laypersons interpret the personal health information accessible to them via electronic patient records (EPRs) is crucial to healthcare planning and the design of services. Yet we still know little about how the format in which personal medical information is presented in the EPR (numerically, verbally, or graphically) affects individuals’ understanding of the information, their assessment of its gravity, and the course of action they choose in response. METHODS: We employed an online questionnaire to assess respondents’ reactions to 10 medical decision-making scenarios, where the same information was presented using different formats. In each scenario, respondents were presented with real (anonymized) patient lab results using either numeric expressions, graphs, or verbal expressions. Participants were asked to assess the gravity of the hypothetical patient’s condition and the course of action they would follow if they were that patient. The questionnaire was distributed to more than 300 participants, of whom 225 submitted usable responses. RESULTS: Laypersons were more likely to overestimate the gravity of the information when it was presented either numerically or graphically compared to the narrative format. High perceived gravity was most likely to produce an inclination to actively seek medical attention, even when unwarranted. “Don’t know” responses were most likely to produce an inclination to either search the Internet or wait for the doctor to call. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: We discuss the study’s implications for the effective design of lab results in the patient portals. We suggest (1) that graphs, tables, and charts would be easier to interpret if coupled with a brief verbal explanation; (2) that highlighting an overall level of urgency may be more helpful than indicating a diversion from the norm; and (3) that statements of results should include the type of follow-up required. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7592036 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-75920362020-10-28 Numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals? Bar-Lev, Shirly Beimel, Dizza Isr J Health Policy Res Original Research Article BACKGROUND: The heavy reliance on remote patient care (RPC) during the COVID-19 health crisis may have expedited the emergence of digital health tools that can contribute to safely and effectively moving the locus of care from the hospital to the community. Understanding how laypersons interpret the personal health information accessible to them via electronic patient records (EPRs) is crucial to healthcare planning and the design of services. Yet we still know little about how the format in which personal medical information is presented in the EPR (numerically, verbally, or graphically) affects individuals’ understanding of the information, their assessment of its gravity, and the course of action they choose in response. METHODS: We employed an online questionnaire to assess respondents’ reactions to 10 medical decision-making scenarios, where the same information was presented using different formats. In each scenario, respondents were presented with real (anonymized) patient lab results using either numeric expressions, graphs, or verbal expressions. Participants were asked to assess the gravity of the hypothetical patient’s condition and the course of action they would follow if they were that patient. The questionnaire was distributed to more than 300 participants, of whom 225 submitted usable responses. RESULTS: Laypersons were more likely to overestimate the gravity of the information when it was presented either numerically or graphically compared to the narrative format. High perceived gravity was most likely to produce an inclination to actively seek medical attention, even when unwarranted. “Don’t know” responses were most likely to produce an inclination to either search the Internet or wait for the doctor to call. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: We discuss the study’s implications for the effective design of lab results in the patient portals. We suggest (1) that graphs, tables, and charts would be easier to interpret if coupled with a brief verbal explanation; (2) that highlighting an overall level of urgency may be more helpful than indicating a diversion from the norm; and (3) that statements of results should include the type of follow-up required. BioMed Central 2020-10-28 /pmc/articles/PMC7592036/ /pubmed/33115536 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13584-020-00415-z Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Original Research Article Bar-Lev, Shirly Beimel, Dizza Numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals? |
title | Numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals? |
title_full | Numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals? |
title_fullStr | Numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals? |
title_full_unstemmed | Numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals? |
title_short | Numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals? |
title_sort | numbers, graphs and words – do we really understand the lab test results accessible via the patient portals? |
topic | Original Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7592036/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33115536 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13584-020-00415-z |
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