Patient Portals for Inpatients - External Evidence

[Summary of environmental scan and simple literature review related to uses of patient portal in inpatient settings]

Systematic Reviews

  • Dendere R, Slade C, Burton-Jones A, et. al. Patient Portals Facilitating Engagement with Inpatient Electronic Medical Records: A Systematic Review J Med Internet Res. 2019 Apr; 21(4): e12779.

  • PMC 6482406

  • Conclusion: "While the evidence is currently immature, patient portals have demonstrated benefit by enabling the discovery of medical errors, improving adherence to medications, and providing patient-provider communication, etc. High-quality studies are needed to fully understand, improve, and evaluate their impact."

  • Key Observations:

Original Reports

  • Robinson JR, Davis SE, Cronin RM, Jackson GP. Use of a Patient Portal During Hospital Admissions to Surgical Services. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2017 Feb 10;2016:1967-1976. PMID: 28269956; PMCID: PMC5333326.

  • Hulter P, Pluut B, Leenen-Brinkhuis C, de Mul M, Ahaus K, Weggelaar-Jansen AM. Adopting Patient Portals in Hospitals: Qualitative Study. J Med Internet Res. 2020 May 19;22(5):e16921. doi: 10.2196/16921. PMID: 32427110; PMCID: PMC7268003.

  • Dumitrascu AG, Burton MC, Dawson NL, Thomas CS, Nordan LM, Greig HE, Aljabri DI, Naessens JM. Patient portal use and hospital outcomes. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2018 Apr 1;25(4):447-453. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocx149. PMID: 29300961; PMCID: PMC7647026.