An Asthma Specialist's Consult Letter: What Do Parents Think About Receiving a Copy?

OBJECTIVE

Written summaries about visits with general practitioners' have influenced increased patient knowledge, satisfaction, recollection, and compliance, and strengthened the doctor-patient relationship. All previous studies about this communication pre-dated the electronic medical record (EMR) era, and none examined views from parents of children with asthma. We explored parents' perceptions about receiving a hard copy summary Letter immediately following the visit, with the pediatric asthma specialist about findings and the care plan for their child.

METHODS

A Parent Advisory Council helped inform this pilot study, an observational cross-sectional electronic survey. Each Letter included a comprehensive summary of the child's visit with the specialist.

RESULTS

Previous findings from patients about the benefits of receiving this Letter were strongly supported by data from 51 participants. Interestingly, more than 54% of respondents preferred receiving a hard copy Letter over an electronic copy, and 98% wanted other clinicians to adopt this practice.

CONCLUSION

Parents of children with asthma value and want timely written information of this nature from other clinicians.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

These results can influence further asthma research to promote a change in the perceptions of clinicians, parents, and patients about timely access to health information in the EMR era.