ArticleJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA2018
Patient perceptions of receiving test results via online portals: a mixed-methods study.
Article in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patient Experiences With Online Laboratory Test Presentations From Access to Activation: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Communicating blood test results in primary care: a mixed-methods systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Pooled it
- Enhancing Patient Understanding of Laboratory Test Results: Systematic Review of Presentation Formats and Their Impact on Perception, Decision, Action, and Memory.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- The impact of health information technology on the management and follow-up of test results - a systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2019Pooled it
- Patient-Reported Experiences With Viewing and Understanding Test Results in Patient Portals: Cross-Sectional Survey Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Article
- Patient-friendly simplification and translation of neuroradiology impressions using artificial intelligence.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Balancing efficiency and misinterpretation: general practitioners' perspectives on communicating diagnostic test results in the digital era.Family practice · 2025Article
- Article
- The application and challenges of ChatGPT in laboratory medicine.Advances in laboratory medicine · 2025Review
- Patient-Friendly Test Results and Patient-Initiated Messaging Among Adult Outpatients.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Patient's Information Needs and Understanding When Reading Anatomic Pathology Reports in Patient Portals.ACI open · 2025Article
- Electronic Patient Portals as a Modality for Returning Reclassified Genetic Test Results.Molecular genetics & genomic medicine · 2025Article
- A retrospective multi-institutional assessment of breast radiology and pathology report readability and a novel patient tool (MedEd) utilizing American literacy standards.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2025Article
- Interpretating Normal Values and Reference Ranges for Laboratory Tests.Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM · 2025Review
- Timing and Method of Patient-Provider Communication for Abnormal Hepatocellular Carcinoma Screening Results in Cirrhosis.JCO clinical cancer informatics · 2025Article
- Repeated Access to Patient Portal While Awaiting Test Results and Patient-Initiated Messaging.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- "Everything is electronic health record-driven": the role of the electronic health record in the emergency department diagnostic process.JAMIA open · 2025Article
- Revisions to the Safety Assurance Factors for Electronic Health Record Resilience (SAFER) Guides to update national recommendations for safe use of electronic health records.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2025Article
- Interpretation of immediately released health information: Informing patient medical education in breast oncology.American journal of surgery · 2025Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Objective: Online portals provide patients with access to their test results, but it is unknown how patients use these tools to manage results and what information is available to promote understanding. We conducted a mixed-methods study to explore patients' experiences and preferences when accessing their test results via portals. Materials and Methods: We conducted 95 interviews (13 semistructured and 82 structured) with adults who viewed a test result in their portal between April 2015 and September 2016 at 4 large outpatient clinics in Houston, Texas. Semistructured interviews were coded using content analysis and transformed into quantitative data and integrated with the structured interview data. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the structured data. Results: Nearly two-thirds (63%) did not receive any explanatory information or test result interpretation at the time they received the result, and 46% conducted online searches for further information about their result. Patients who received an abnormal result were more likely to experience negative emotions (56% vs 21%; P = .003) and more likely to call their physician (44% vs 15%; P = .002) compared with those who received normal results. Discussion: Study findings suggest that online portals are not currently designed to present test results to patients in a meaningful way. Patients experienced negative emotions often with abnormal results, but sometimes even with normal results. Simply providing access via portals is insufficient; additional strategies are needed to help patients interpret and manage their online test results. Conclusion: Given the absence of national guidance, our findings could help strengthen policy and practice in this area and inform innovations that promote patient understanding of test results.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.