Center on Aging, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Psychol Aging. 2013 Dec;28(4):1124-39. doi: 10.1037/a0033911.
As the health care industry shifts into the digital age, patients are increasingly being provided with access to electronic personal health records (PHRs) that are tethered to their provider-maintained electronic health records. This unprecedented access to personal health information can enable patients to more effectively manage their health, but little is actually known about patients' ability to successfully use a PHR to perform health management tasks or the individual factors that influence task performance. This study evaluated the ability of 56 middle-aged adults (40-59 years) and 51 older adults (60-85 years) to use a simulated PHR to perform 15 common health management tasks encompassing medication management, review/interpretation of lab/test results, and health maintenance activities. Results indicated that participants in both age groups experienced significant difficulties in using the PHR to complete routine health management tasks. Data also showed that older adults, particularly those with lower numeracy and technology experience, encountered greater problems using the system. Furthermore, data revealed that the cognitive abilities predicting one's task performance varied according to the complexity of the task. Results from this study identify important factors to consider in the design of PHRs so that they meet the needs of middle-aged and older adults. As deployment of PHRs is on the rise, knowledge of the individual factors that impact effective PHR use is critical to preventing an increase in health care disparities between those who are able to use a PHR and those who are not.
随着医疗保健行业进入数字时代，患者越来越多地被提供访问电子个人健康记录（PHR）的权限，这些记录与提供者维护的电子健康记录相关联。这种对个人健康信息的前所未有的访问权限可以使患者更有效地管理自己的健康，但实际上人们对患者成功使用 PHR 来执行健康管理任务的能力以及影响任务执行的个体因素知之甚少。本研究评估了 56 名中年成年人（40-59 岁）和 51 名老年成年人（60-85 岁）使用模拟 PHR 执行 15 项常见健康管理任务（包括药物管理、查看/解释实验室/测试结果和健康维护活动）的能力。结果表明，两个年龄组的参与者在使用 PHR 完成常规健康管理任务时都遇到了很大的困难。数据还表明，老年人，特别是那些计算能力和技术经验较低的人，在使用该系统时遇到了更大的问题。此外，数据显示，预测一个人任务表现的认知能力因任务的复杂性而异。本研究的结果确定了在设计 PHR 时需要考虑的重要因素，以便它们满足中年和老年人的需求。随着 PHR 的部署不断增加，了解影响有效 PHR 使用的个体因素对于防止在能够使用 PHR 和不能使用 PHR 的人群之间出现健康差距的扩大至关重要。
