JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Many healthcare organizations around the world have implemented health information technologies in an effort to enhance health service efficiency, effectiveness and safety. Studies have demonstrated that promising outcomes of health information technology initiatives can be obtained when patients and family members effectively participate and engage in the adoption, use and evaluation of health information technologies. Despite knowing this, there is a lack of healthcare organizations using patient and family engagement strategies to enhance the use and adoption of health information technologies specifically.

Objective:

The following three research questions were developed to reflect the objectives of the review: 1) What current frameworks or theories have been used to effectively guide patient and family engagement in health information technology adoption, use, implementation, selection, and evaluation? 2) What studies have been done on effective patient and family engagement strategies in health information technology adoption, use, and evaluation? 3) What patient and family engagement frameworks, studies and/or resources, identified in literature, can be applied to health information technology adoption, use, and evaluation?

Methods:

This scoping review used a five-step framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley and adapted by Levac, Colquhoun and O’Brien. Retrieved academic and grey literature records were evaluated based on inclusion criteria by two independent reviewers. Research findings and strategies were extracted from the studies and summarized in data tables.

Results:

Thirty-five (n = 35) academic articles and twenty-three (n = 23) grey literature documents met the inclusion criteria. Twenty of the 35 included studies have been published since 2017. Effective strategies include providing patients with clear expectations and responsibilities and providing reimbursement for time and travel. Grey literature sources outlined key considerations for planning and supporting engagement initiatives such as training for healthcare professionals and patients, providing patients with opportunities for professional development, and embedding patients in existing governance structures.

Conclusions:

Several studies have reported their findings on successful strategies to engage patients and family members in health information technology initiatives, and the positive impact that can emerge when patients and family members are engaged effectively. Currently, no framework has consolidated all of the key strategies and considerations that were found in this review to guide healthcare organizations when engaging patients and family members in a health information technology specific project. With increasing number of recent studies reporting their findings of engaging patients in health information technology related initiatives, further research is needed to evaluate and validate the existing strategies.