2009 Faculty Researchers

Richelle J. Koopman, MD, MS

Patient Readiness to Use Internet Health Resources

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Department

Family & Community Medicine

Office Location

MA 306N Medical Sciences Building

Phone #:

Office: (573) 882-3126
Fax: (573) 884-6172

Summary

The burden of chronic disease is increasing in the United States and throughout the world. More than 100 million people in the United States live with chronic conditions, accounting for 75% of Medicare spending. New approaches are needed to adequately care for people with chronic disease. Online health resources potentially could provide a sustainable and patient-centered format for delivering the types of education, communication, and self-management resources needed to optimize patient activation. Although many web-based resources for chronically ill patients are in development, they will only be valuable if patients have the computer skills and motivation to use them.

How prepared are our patients with chronic disease to use these resources? How will clinicians and patient educators judge which patients are ready to use web-based patient education, self-management tools, online prescription refill requests, medication reconciliation, and secure messaging? For patients who use online health resources, what is the relationship between motivation for behavior change and the use of these resources? We propose to address these research questions.

In this 8 week summer study, we will use patient and physician focus groups to investigate the perceptions of our patients with chronic disease about using online health resources and engaging in interactive online communication between the patient and the health care team. Our focus groups will explore facilitators and barriers to online health communications, including issues of privacy, trust, motivation, and asynchrony. This rich examination of preferences for use of web-based health resources among ambulatory patients with chronic disease and their physicians will inform projects, systems, and policies that seek to use the online environment as part of a comprehensive disease management strategy. Additionally, the focus group will contribute to the creation of a validated scale of the readiness of ambulatory patients with chronic conditions to use web-based health resources. Our study is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Koopman has previously worked with medical students to complete summer research projects that have led to publications.