Engaging hospitalized patients with personalized health information: a randomized trial of an inpatient portal

摘要

Objective: To determine the effects of an inpatient portal intervention on patient activation, patient satisfaction, patient engagement with health information, and 30-day hospital readmissions. Methods and Materials: From March 2014 to May 2017, we enrolled 426 English- or Spanish-speaking patients from 2 cardiac medical-surgical units at an urban academic medical center. Patients were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: 1) usual care, 2) tablet with general Internet access (tablet-only), and 3) tablet with an inpatient portal. The primary study outcome was patient activation (Patient Activation Measure-13). Secondary outcomes included all-cause readmission within 30 days, patient satisfaction, and patient engagement with health information. Results: There was no evidence of a difference in patient activation among patients assigned to the inpatient portal intervention compared to usual care or the tablet-only group. Patients in the inpatient portal group had lower 30-day hospital readmissions (5.5% vs. 12.9% tablet-only and 13.5% usual care; P?=?0.044). There was evidence of a difference in patient engagement with health information between the inpatient portal and tablet-only group, including looking up health information online (89.6% vs. 51.8%; P?