An RCT of an Online Training for Vulnerable Patients to Use an Online Patient Portal Website

Chronic Disease Clinical Trial

Official title:

Engaging Diverse Patients in Using an Online Patient Portal

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03354000
• Other study ID #: 5R00HS022408-05
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: August 1, 2015
• Est. completion date: July 31, 2018

Study information

• Verified date: April 2019
• Source: University of California, San Francisco
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Online patient portals are becoming ubiquitous in the US. Previous research has documented substantial usability barriers, especially among patients with limited health literacy. This pilot randomized pilot trial had the goal of determining the effectiveness of an in-person training with a scalable online video-based training program to increase portal use among patients in a safety net healthcare setting.

Description:

The intervention in this study was a patient portal training curriculum with simple instructions and 11 how-to videos for accessing features of an online patient portal. Using a deeply participatory approach, this curriculum was created in consultation with a patient advisory board from the San Francisco Health Network, a local Medicaid health plan. From June until October 2016, 93 patients with 1 or more chronic diseases were randomized to receive either: 1) an in-person tutorial with a trained research assistant versus 2) a link to view the videos on their own. The primary outcome was portal log-in (yes/no) between 3 and 6 months post-training, assessed through a portal administrative dashboard within the EHR. Secondary outcome included baseline and follow-up survey measures on participants' perceptions of the portal use and their care, as well as views of the web-based lessons.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 93
• Est. completion date: July 31, 2018
• Est. primary completion date: July 31, 2017
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 100 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• English-speaking as portal is only available in English

• diagnosed with at least one chronic condition

Exclusion Criteria:

• cognitive impairment

• visual impairment

• severe mental health conditions

• any circumstances that would make participation in the study difficult

• no previous email use

• self-reported usage of MYSFHEALTH

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Chronic Disease
• Electronic Health Records
• Health Literacy

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Take-home online training
We randomized patients to receive a link to access the online tutorial on their own. Participants in the take-home arm were given a paper handout with a link to the training materials and an outline of the steps for accessing the training curriculum.
• In-person online training
For participants randomized to the in-person training arm, a trained research assistant prompted participants to log into the learning platform and guided them in accessing the training materials for portal features that were of interest to them. The staff member provided further explanation or clarification if participants had questions about the training material.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of California, San Francisco

References & Publications (1)

Norman CD, Skinner HA. eHEALS: The eHealth Literacy Scale. J Med Internet Res. 2006 Nov 14;8(4):e27. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Portal log-ins	Logging into the portal website in the 3-6 months post-training (yes/no)	3-6 months post-training
Secondary	eHealth Literacy	The eHEALS is a measure of eHealth literacy developed to measure consumers' combined knowledge, comfort, and perceived skills at finding, evaluating, and applying electronic health information to health problems. eHEALS was measured at baseline and follow-up via surveys	3-6 months post-training
Secondary	Portal sign-up	Initiating sign-up process for the portal website (yes/no), as pulled from EHR chart review	3-6 months post-training
Secondary	Digital literacy skills	Confidence in having skills to be able to use online portal website (scored from 1 to 0), as self-reported via baseline and follow-up surveys	3-6 months post-training

External Links

•   Information about the MYSFHEALTH online patient portal
•   Published paper summarizing trial findings - A Randomized Trial to Train Vulnerable Primary Care Patients to Use a Patient Portal