Patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in Alberta

Effective communication between health professionals and patients is essential to patient safety and quality care. Primary care providers seeking specialist advice to manage patients’ conditions in the community has recently been adopted to improve timely access to specialty care and increase the ef...

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Autores principales: Yong Li, Annabelle Wong
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: The Beryl Institute 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/4538d33f8b8d4020ae1e28d48202a013
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:4538d33f8b8d4020ae1e28d48202a0132021-11-15T04:33:47ZPatients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in Alberta2372-0247https://doaj.org/article/4538d33f8b8d4020ae1e28d48202a0132021-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://pxjournal.org/journal/vol8/iss1/10https://doaj.org/toc/2372-0247Effective communication between health professionals and patients is essential to patient safety and quality care. Primary care providers seeking specialist advice to manage patients’ conditions in the community has recently been adopted to improve timely access to specialty care and increase the efficacy of the referral process. To understand patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions on doctor-to-doctor advice for non-urgent clinical questions and electronic referral communications with patients in Alberta, a mixed method online survey was conducted by Alberta Health Services’ Access Improvement team. A total of 1,422 patients and family caregivers living in Alberta were included in the quantitative and qualitative analysis. Although the majority of participants were comfortable with their doctors seeking advice via secure online messaging systems (93%) and over the phone (89%), about half of the participants did not know if their family doctors had ever obtained advice from a specialist to support their care. Their concerns surrounding doctor-to-doctor, non-urgent advice included the security of transferred information, privacy and confidentiality of patient information, misunderstanding of information, and delayed communication. In addition, 63% of participants reported that email was the most convenient way to receive electronic notifications about their referrals. Increasing patients’ and family caregivers’ awareness of advice services in Alberta will help promote person-centered care and improve communication during the referral and consultation process. Our findings also encourage healthcare providers and policymakers to further evaluate key areas for improvement and implement new strategies to promote better patient and provider communications while enhancing timely access to specialty care. <strong>Experience Framework</strong> This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework (<a href="https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework">https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework</a>). <ul> <li><a href="https://www.theberylinstitute.org/page/PXSEARCH#resource-list-all/?view_28_page=1&view_28_filters=%5B%7B%22field%22%3A%22field_38%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22in%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22PXJ%20Article%22%5D%7D%2C%7B%22field%22%3A%22field_20%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22is%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22%22%5D%7D%2C%7B%22field%22%3A%22field_40%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22is%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22%22%2C%22Patient%2C%20Family%20%26%20Community%20Engagement%22%5D%7D%2C%7B%22field%22%3A%22field_41%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22is%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22%22%5D%7D%5D">Access other PXJ articles</a> related to this lens.</li> <li><a href="https://www.theberylinstitute.org/page/Ecosystem-PatientFamilyCommunityEngagement">Access other resources</a> related to this lens.</li> </ul>Yong LiAnnabelle WongThe Beryl Institutearticleelectronic advicephone advicereferral notificationsspecialty referralsMedicine (General)R5-920Public aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENPatient Experience Journal (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic electronic advice
phone advice
referral notifications
specialty referrals
Medicine (General)
R5-920
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
spellingShingle electronic advice
phone advice
referral notifications
specialty referrals
Medicine (General)
R5-920
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Yong Li
Annabelle Wong
Patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in Alberta
description Effective communication between health professionals and patients is essential to patient safety and quality care. Primary care providers seeking specialist advice to manage patients’ conditions in the community has recently been adopted to improve timely access to specialty care and increase the efficacy of the referral process. To understand patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions on doctor-to-doctor advice for non-urgent clinical questions and electronic referral communications with patients in Alberta, a mixed method online survey was conducted by Alberta Health Services’ Access Improvement team. A total of 1,422 patients and family caregivers living in Alberta were included in the quantitative and qualitative analysis. Although the majority of participants were comfortable with their doctors seeking advice via secure online messaging systems (93%) and over the phone (89%), about half of the participants did not know if their family doctors had ever obtained advice from a specialist to support their care. Their concerns surrounding doctor-to-doctor, non-urgent advice included the security of transferred information, privacy and confidentiality of patient information, misunderstanding of information, and delayed communication. In addition, 63% of participants reported that email was the most convenient way to receive electronic notifications about their referrals. Increasing patients’ and family caregivers’ awareness of advice services in Alberta will help promote person-centered care and improve communication during the referral and consultation process. Our findings also encourage healthcare providers and policymakers to further evaluate key areas for improvement and implement new strategies to promote better patient and provider communications while enhancing timely access to specialty care. <strong>Experience Framework</strong> This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework (<a href="https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework">https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework</a>). <ul> <li><a href="https://www.theberylinstitute.org/page/PXSEARCH#resource-list-all/?view_28_page=1&view_28_filters=%5B%7B%22field%22%3A%22field_38%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22in%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22PXJ%20Article%22%5D%7D%2C%7B%22field%22%3A%22field_20%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22is%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22%22%5D%7D%2C%7B%22field%22%3A%22field_40%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22is%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22%22%2C%22Patient%2C%20Family%20%26%20Community%20Engagement%22%5D%7D%2C%7B%22field%22%3A%22field_41%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22is%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22%22%5D%7D%5D">Access other PXJ articles</a> related to this lens.</li> <li><a href="https://www.theberylinstitute.org/page/Ecosystem-PatientFamilyCommunityEngagement">Access other resources</a> related to this lens.</li> </ul>
format article
author Yong Li
Annabelle Wong
author_facet Yong Li
Annabelle Wong
author_sort Yong Li
title Patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in Alberta
title_short Patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in Alberta
title_full Patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in Alberta
title_fullStr Patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in Alberta
title_full_unstemmed Patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in Alberta
title_sort patients’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of doctor-to-doctor advice and electronic referral notifications in alberta
publisher The Beryl Institute
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/4538d33f8b8d4020ae1e28d48202a013
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AT annabellewong patientsandfamilycaregiversperceptionsofdoctortodoctoradviceandelectronicreferralnotificationsinalberta
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