27 April 2023

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What is the most popular content in dental patient health portals?

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Patient health portals (PHP) encourage patients' participation to improve their care experience, as well as the health of the population, while reducing health care costs and improving the working lives of medical teams. 

The objective of this study, published on February 21 in JADA, was to learn about the perspectives of dental patients on the health portals intended for them and their desired content. Specifically, the authors examined the important characteristics that dental patients should have access to, as well as the barriers and facilitators of patient health portals.

Methods

The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of adult patients attending predoctoral, faculty and resident clinics at an academic dental center between July and October 2020. Patients were invited to complete an 18-item self-administered survey. The survey captured patient demographics, preferences, desired content, and facilitators and barriers to PHPs. The authors performed descriptive statistical analyses and bivariate analyses.

Results

A total of 325 people participated in the survey. Most participants had a college degree, Internet access, public insurance and a household income of more than $50,000 per year. Completed procedures, summaries of previous visits and date of last visit were the three types of information most desired by patients in dental health PHPs.

The three most desired oral health topics in the PHP were signs of gum disease and its proper treatment, caries prevention and proper brushing and flossing techniques. Among the most perceived obstacles are the high cost and privacy and security issues. Among the most perceived enablers are user-friendly portals and personal health tracking.

Conclusions

This study highlights the preferences of dental patients for a PHP and can serve as a basis for the development of dental PHP. Dentists must overcome identified barriers to increase patient involvement in the use of dental PHP.

Practical implications

Implementing patient-identified characteristics in a dental PHP will help improve the quality of oral healthcare delivery by increasing patient engagement and improving their experience.

This article was originally published on Odontologia33. 

Semira Amirkiai and Enihomo Obadan-Udoh. "Dental patients’ perceptions of and desired content from patient health portals." JADA. 21 February 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2022.12.010