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Evaluation of a prototype electronic personal health record for patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura

Authors Chiche L , Brescianini, Mancini, Servy H, Durand

Received 24 July 2012

Accepted for publication 11 September 2012

Published 10 October 2012 Volume 2012:6 Pages 725—734

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S36320

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 3



Laurent Chiche,1 Alessandra Brescianini,1 Julien Mancini,2 Hervé Servy,3 Jean-Marc Durand1

1Service de Médecine Interne, Centre de Compétence pour la prise en charge des Cytopénies Auto-immunes, Hôpital de la Conception, Marseille, 2Service de Santé Publique, Hôpital de la Timone, Marseille, 3Association AIMSU, Maison des Associations, La Ciotat, France

Background: Patients with rare diseases often lack information about the disease itself and appropriate health care, leading to poor quality of life. Personal health records provide health information which can then be shared between multiple health care providers. Personal health records may also offer a tool for capturing patients' reported outcomes, thus enhancing their empowerment and improving communication with health care professionals. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate the usability of Sanoia, a freely accessible personal health record, which was customized for patients with the rare disease, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).
Methods: The Sanoia interface was expanded with ITP-specific tools. A prospective study was conducted at the referent center to evaluate the usability of this new interface (referred to here as the “tool”) by patients. Forty-three patients were randomized into groups to use or to not use the tool. Its use was evaluated by a specific questionnaire and by surveying individual patient adherence profiles. Evaluation of health-related quality of life using the ITP patient assessment questionnaire, was performed at baseline and after 1, 3, and 6 months via postal mail.
Results: The groups were similar at inclusion in terms of characteristics, including global quality of life. During the study period, the tool was used to update the personal records of 19/28 patients (68%), with a median of two connections to the tool (range 1–12) plus access by various health care professionals (n = 22). In addition, 15/19 (78%) patients used the "personal notes" section at least once. We observed no significant changes in quality of life between patients with or without the tool during the study period.
Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrates the good usability of the new customized Sanoia interface for patients with ITP. Additional studies will increase its usability further, and its interface could be adapted for use with other rare chronic diseases.

Keywords: electronic personal health records, rare diseases, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura

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