Designing health risk assessment report for wellness clinic patients

Introduction With the emergence of electronic medical records and patient portals, patients are increasingly able to access their health records, including laboratory reports. However, laboratory reports are usually written for clinicians rather than patients, who may not understand much of the information in the report. While several professional guidelines define the technical content of test reports, there are very few guidelines on a patient-friendly presentation of such laboratory reports. The complexity of lab test reports poses a major challenge to patient understanding that warrants the development of a report more appropriate for them. Methodology User feedback was obtained on the Lab Report / medical summaries of a tertiary level hospital based on a pre-tested questionnaire Health Risk Assessment Report was prepared with a view to address patient barriers Functionality enhancements were arrived at for estimating work effort by business analyst of the Customer Relationship Management team. Results Patients' health literacy, awareness of inherited diseases, e-health literacy and risk perception were found to be impacting the interpretation of lab results. Based on the user feedback (88% opting for graphical and pictorial presentation), 13 functionality enhancements have been arrived at and submitted to the Customer Relationship Management team for initiating a change management report taking into consideration the training load and cost implications. Conclusions Patient friendly systems (CRM) enhance the understanding on the criticality of their health conditions, impacting health seeking behavior. Effective CRMs help hospitals in providing cost effective health care to the community. The enhancements, however, have to be in adherence to the EHR standards of the country. Key messages Effective CRMs help hospitals in providing cost effective health care to the community. Patient friendly systems (CRM) enhance the understanding on the criticality of their health conditions, impacting health seeking behavior.