NCT03354000

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

Engaging Diverse Patients in Using an Online Patient Portal

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 93 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 100 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions

• Electronic Health Records
• Chronic Disease
• Health Literacy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
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.
BEHAVIORAL	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.

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-08-01
• Primary completion: 2017-07-31
• Completion: 2018-07-31
• First posted: 2017-11-27
• Last updated: 2019-04-19