NURS 6051 LITERATURE REVIEW: THE USE OF CLINICAL SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES AND EFFICIENCIES

NURS 6051 LITERATURE REVIEW: THE USE OF CLINICAL SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES AND EFFICIENCIES

Healthcare delivery has advanced in many ways as providers and stakeholders improve methods to ensure a better patient care experience. Clinical systems dominate this evolution to improve efficiencies and outcomes and save costs. Their use has enabled nurses and other care professionals to automate workflow, instrumental in improving accuracy, information access, and data sharing (Zayas-Cabán et al., 2021). Nursing research has continually examined the value of clinical systems in patient care regarding safety, care quality, patient engagement, and other aspects. The benefits are profound, validating their integration into the health practice and continuous support from stakeholders, policymakers, and partners. The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to summarize current findings on the value of patient portals in disease management, explaining improvement to outcomes, efficiencies, and lessons from their application.

Annotated Bibliography

Lim, W. L., Koh, Y. L. E., Tan, Z. E., Tan, Y. Q., & Tan, N. C. (2024). Self-efficacy in patients with hypertension and their perceived usage of patient portals. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 15, 21501319231224253. https://doi.org/10.1177/21501319231224253

Patients with chronic diseases should be highly knowledgeable about their conditions so that the recommended treatments can be implemented. Self-efficacy denotes a patient’s confidence and ability to adapt appropriate health behaviors to accomplish the desired health goal. Lim et al. (2024) evaluated the link between self-efficacy and primary care management among patients with hypertension using portals. In this cross-sectional survey with self-administered questionnaires, researchers found that patient portals enhanced self-efficacy, optimizing hypertension management. This high self-efficacy was achieved by portals providing valuable information about hypertension, including risk factors, severity, and causes. Care providers also used the portals to educate patients on strategies to achieve the target blood pressure, dietary guidelines, and lifestyle modification advice. Patients were also able to request medication refills through the medication extension service feature, improving medication compliance. Importantly, patient portals allowed patients to track and monitor their blood pressure, enabling them to adjust their diets and lifestyles as the pressure levels necessitated. About lessons, patient portals are a valuable tool with multidimensional uses. Their use can be maximized by supporting patients to access and interpret data and raising awareness about their benefits, risks, and valuable features.

Marsh, K. K., Bush, R. A., & Connelly, C. D. (2020). Exploring perceptions and use of the patient portal by young adults with type 1 diabetes: a qualitative study. Health Informatics Journal, 26(4), 2586-2596. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458220911780

Diabetes is a severe chronic disease with far-reaching consequences if not effectively managed. As a result, continuous patient-provider interaction is critical to ensure patients can manage their conditions and adhere to treatments and medical advice. In this article, Marsh et al. (2020) studied the usefulness of patient portals in supporting self-management of type 1 diabetes. The authors found that patient portals supported diabetes self-management by facilitating access to providers and medical history. This improved capacity is achieved by patient portals’ features that enable the patients to view health results and message their providers. Their efficiency was highlighted by the messaging feature, enabling the patient to avoid calling care providers and making unnecessary physical appointments. The support was more helpful to newly diagnosed patients who needed frequent communication with providers, and the portals responded effectively by enabling them to receive accurate and timely responses when they asked questions. Regarding the lessons, patients perceive patient portals positively but prefer a more comprehensive, user-focused health portal. This preference highlights the need for electronic platforms that focus more on patients’ health and provide resources and strategies to help patients manage their care.

Scheckel, B., Schmidt, K., Stock, S., & Redaèlli, M. (2023). Patient portals as facilitators of engagement in patients with diabetes and chronic heart disease: scoping review of usage and usability. Journal of Medical Internet Research,