Are Personal Health Records (PHRs) Facilitating Patient Safety? A Scoping Review

Abstract

Personal Health Records (PHRs) are poised to improve patient safety, however the mechanism(s) in which they improve safety is not clear. To this end, we conducted a scoping review with the following objectives: 1) explore the extent of the evidence that PHRs improve patient safety, 2) determine where PHR research has been done per International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Represented Region [1], 3) to identify the PHR naming convention(s) used per IMIA Region [1]. The findings revealed that there is limited evidence that PHRs improve patient safety. The results also revealed heterogeneity in PHR nomenclature and how they were used in healthcare settings. However, the overarching theme of the study, was that future research is needed to ensure that PHRs are designed and used in a patient safety context with human factors and usability considerations.