Title :
Factors Affecting Acceptance of a Web-Based Self-Referral System
Author :
Kim, Eung-Hun ; Linker, David T. ; Coumar, Anil ; Dean, Larry S. ; Matsen, Frederick A. ; Kim, Yongmin
Author_Institution :
Depts. of Electr. Eng. & Bioeng., Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
fDate :
3/1/2011 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
With the growing availability of health information on the web, people are becoming more knowledgeable on their health conditions and treatment options, and more patients seek specialists by themselves. To aid patients in requesting self-referrals, we have developed and evaluated a web-based self-referral system in three specialty clinics at the University of Washington. Two clinics adopted the system for routine clinical use, while the third clinic decided not to. A major difference between these two groups was in how fast online requests from patients were handled, which significantly influenced patients´ satisfaction. Clinic´s preparedness for handling the temporarily increased workload due to the introduction of a new health information system played a role as well. Also, we noticed that the physician leadership/championship made a difference in the acceptance of our system.
Keywords :
Web services; health care; medical information systems; University of Washington; acceptance; clinic preparedness; health information; web vased self referral system; Biomedical engineering; Cardiology; Information systems; Medical diagnostic imaging; Surgery; Clinical acceptance; health information technology; personal health record; referral management; specialty clinic; web based; Ambulatory Care Facilities; Attitude of Health Personnel; Electronic Health Records; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; Information Seeking Behavior; Internet; Medical Informatics; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Patient Participation; Patient Satisfaction; Referral and Consultation; Self Report;
Journal_Title :
Information Technology in Biomedicine, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TITB.2010.2088129