BMC Health Services Research (Sep 2002)

Patient attitudes toward using computers to improve health services delivery

  • Diaz Joseph,
  • Sciamanna Christopher N,
  • Myne Puja

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-2-19
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 1
p. 19

Abstract

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Abstract Background The aim of this study was to examine the acceptability of point of care computerized prompts to improve health services delivery among a sample of primary care patients. Methods Primary data collection. Cross-sectional survey. Patients were surveyed after their visit with a primary care provider. Data were obtained from patients of ten community-based primary care practices in the spring of 2001. Results Almost all patients reported that they would support using a computer before each visit to prompt their doctor to: "do health screening tests" (92%), "counsel about health behaviors (like diet and exercise)" (92%) and "change treatments for health conditions" (86%). In multivariate testing, the only variable that was associated with acceptability of the point of care computerized prompts was patient's confidence in their ability to answer questions about their health using a computer (beta = 0.39, p = .001). Concerns about data security were expressed by 36.3% of subjects, but were not related to acceptability of the prompts. Conclusions Support for using computers to generate point of care prompts to improve quality-oriented processes of care was high in our sample, but may be contingent on patients feeling familiar with their personal medical history.

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