Seniors reluctant to share PCEHR with all health professionals
A new regional-based study has found seniors are willing to give their GP, specialists, hospital and emergency staff full access to their electronic health record but not other health professionals or carers.
Most senior Australians are willing to grant their GP, specialists, hospital medical staff and emergency workers full access to their electronic health record but are not inclined to do so for other health professionals or carers, according to a study targeting over-65s in regional Australia.
Education is therefore needed about the importance of all health professionals having a full picture of a patient’s health, says a co-author of the paper, which was recently published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics.
The La Trobe University pilot study on the views of elderly regional Australians of personally controlled electronic health records (PCEHR) involved 80 seniors from Bendigo in Victoria. The bulk of the participants, which were recruited at local Probus clubs catering to active and retired professionals, were aged 60 to 79 (84 per cent) and most were female (62 per cent).
The study found that the vast majority of respondents were in favour of giving their usual GP full access to their PCEHR (95 per cent) and most were also willing to grant full access to specialists (85 per cent), hospital medical staff (79 per cent), and emergency personnel (78 per cent).
Just over half of participants thought family members (53 per cent) should have full access to their eHealth record, however, fewer than that felt it suitable for diagnostic laboratories (48 per cent), pathology staff (46 per cent), allied health professionals (45 per cent), pharmacists (44 per cent), and carers (29 per cent) to have full access to their online health information.
Co-author of the paper and community pharmacist Pene Wood said she was especially disappointed people did not want to share their information with pharmacists and other health professionals.
“I found it surprising and a little disheartening that patients don’t actually see the need for us to know their medical history. I don’t think they understand what we really do,” said Ms Wood, an associate lecturer in clinical pharmacy at La Trobe University.
Similarly, she said leaving information out of a health record was also a concern because as a health professional she would not feel confident making a decision knowing that all the information was not available.
“My main recommendation is for education about the importance of all health professionals having a full health picture to be able to make the best decisions for the patient’s health,” Ms Wood said.
Other findings
Elsewhere, the study investigated participants’ views on health records, the PCEHR and places to access it, and seniors’ computer skills.
Most respondents thought they should have access to their own medical records (85 per cent) and that it was a good idea to make health records electronic (85 per cent), but 60 per cent of participants said they would prefer to see their records printed rather than on a screen.
And while 63 per cent of respondents said they were worried about the security of online records, 76 per cent said the advantages of electronic records outweighed the disadvantages.
PCEHR access points
The most popular places participants said they would like to access their PCEHR were their own computer (66 per cent) or a computer at their GP practice (43 per cent).
A small minority (9 per cent) said they would find other means such as a smartphone or computer at their child’s home helpful, while very few people reported a computer at a library (4 per cent), cyber café (3 per cent) or shopping centre (1 per cent) would be useful.
Computer use
Most people surveyed had access to a computer (75 per cent) and the internet (70 per cent) at home, but fewer participants reported using their computer (60 per cent) or the internet (54 per cent) regularly or fairly often.
And even fewer respondents said they used internet banking (28 per cent) or the internet to buy something (21 per cent) regularly or fairly often.
Recommendations
To increase the adoption of the PCEHR among regional dwelling older Australians, the authors have recommended measures including computer access points in GP practices, print-out facilities, reassurance about security, and increased awareness about the benefits of sharing health record content with various health professionals.
