Driving Question:
What features are considered critical or most useful by
users of Personal Health Records?
Assignment:
Sign up for a free trial on an online PHR service or try
using a mobile PHR app. Create a scoring system to evaluate usefulness of personal
health records and publish on your blog.
The strong point of healthcare is that it is very adaptive
to the trends to increase its usability and give a distinct feel that it can
never be left out even though almost all healthcare standards are static. Most
of its methodologies and processes are fundamental and are enriched and
improved either by research or by new discoveries. The existing trend of mobility and
portability through the use of worldwide web and smart devices (phones,
tablets, etc.) does not hinder the progression of healthcare to the new level,
which is eHealth.
In line with this, a vast of healthcare applications is
developed in the internet for web based and online stores for mobile apps to
cater the needs of the innovation. Exercise applications, calorie watch
applications, pulse monitoring, etc. are just a few. The brilliant minds of the
computer generation are not stopping to make the workflow of the healthcare
system easier thought of using electronic medical records. Through this, the
personal health record was born. It is like a mini EMR with specific data in
the personal level/ patient level. It allows the patient to view, record and
retrieve his/her needed health data right from the internet or from a mobile
application. As stated by M.I. Kim and K. B. Johnson in their research paper in
2002 entitled Personal Health Records: Evaluation of Functionality and Utility,
PHR’s are “web-based applications have been developed that allow patients to
enter their own information into secure personal health records. These
applications are being promoted as a means of providing patients and providers
with universal access to updated medical information.” From the description
itself, holes are surfacing and weak points are identified. Going further
inside a PHR application where you can find the general functionalities, it
exposes a lot of limitations, in other words, more holes.
This blog post will try to evaluate a PHR’s functionalities
with a self-developed rating method. Important functionalities will be named
after the evaluation is performed. Disclaimer: the ratings and opinions stated
in the evaluation tool are a user’s viewpoint.
The platform and environment
I’ve chosen a mobile
application called “Clarus Personal Health Record” Lite developed by Mannasoft
running on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 plus with an Android 3.2.
The Scoring system
After using the PHR, I will score each criterion using a
number of stars that will signify my satisfaction on the health app.
Outstanding
Very satisfied
Slightly satisfied
Why I used a rating scale? Wikipedia describes, “A rating scale is a set of categories designed to elicit information about a quantitative or a qualitative attribute. In the social sciences, particularly psychology, common examples are the Likert scale and 1-10 rating scales in which a person selects the number which is considered to reflect the perceived quality of a product.” The rating scale using stars and diamonds are used by customers in satisfaction ratings of hotels, resorts, applications, software, movies and anything under the sun. For me, the customers and users of any product are the most effective quality assurance checkers.
The Criteria
Before we start scoring let me introduce you first to the
criteria. The features were divided into three namely:
1. Security- how the user is protected by the system from
entities with malicious intents
2. Usability- the user’s perception of ease of use
3. Content- identifies the level of usefulness of data
entered into the system
Each feature has series of criteria that were found very
critical to a PHR’s use and life span. For me they are the most crucial part of
an effective personal health data.
1. Security
a. Password protection- Primary
level protection of user against unauthorized access
b. Accessibility- factors that
affect portability and mobility (i.e. Internet dependent)
c. Storage- repositories were data are
kept. For this one, I prefer local repository over cloud
d. Multi-person use- can store
other person’s personal health record (e.g. siblings, spouse, parents)
2. Usability
a. Easy navigability- seamless
transition to a page or window through links, buttons, etc.
b. User-friendly User Interface-
easy operations and processes inside the app
c. Data generation- How data is
processed to a useful document (e.g. one page reports, graphs)
d. Compatibility to other
platforms- flexibility of application on other platforms for ease of use
3. Content
a. Captures patient demographics-
presence of necessary fields useful to identify a person
b. Completeness of data concepts-
complete database concepts such as ICD10, Medications, etc.
c. Appropriateness of data- presence
of necessary data or functionalities critical to a patient
d. Interconnectivity of data- data
inside a PHR should be interconnected to each other for uncomplicated use (e.g.
ICD10 codes should compliment with medications)
Let’s evaluate:
Clarus PHR (Personal Health Record) Lite by Mannasoft
Environment: Android OS 3.2
Platform: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 plus
 |
| Figure 1 Clarus PHR Rating |
References:
[1] “Rating scale” Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rating_scale
[2] Tang PC et al. Personal Health Records: Definitions, Benefits and Strategies for Overcoming Barriers to Adoption. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2006;13:121-126 Source: http://jamia.bmj.com/content/13/2/121.full.pdf+html
[3] Kim MI and Johnson KB. Personal health records: evaluation of functionality and utility. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2002;9:171-180
[4] How patients can improve the accuracy of their medical records. eGEMs (Generating Evidence & Methods to improve patient outcomes): Vol. 2: Iss. 3, Article 10. Source: http://repository.academyhealth.org/egems/vol2/iss3/10/
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