Observational studyApplied clinical informatics2018
Understanding Secure Messaging in the Inpatient Environment: A New Avenue for Communication and Patient Engagement.
Observational study in Applied clinical informatics, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Perceptions of Secure Messaging and Patient Safety: Results of an Interprofessional Survey.Hospital pediatrics · 2026Article
- Defining and Assessing Empathic Communication in Patient Portal Secure Messages: Adapted Coding Framework Development Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- A scoping review of studies on secure messaging through patient portals: persistent challenges and potential solutions.npj health systems · 2026Article
- Characterization of Communication-Related Safety Events in a Pediatric Quaternary Care Hospital.Journal of patient safety · 2026Article
- Unsupervised Large Language Models to Identify Topics in Cancer Center Patient Portal Messages.JCO clinical cancer informatics · 2025Article
- A trial of a chat service for patients and their family members in an emergency department.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Improving Provisioning of an Inpatient Portal: Perspectives from Nursing Staff.Applied clinical informatics · 2022Article
- Predicting Health Care Providers' Acceptance of a Personal Health Record Secure Messaging Feature.Applied clinical informatics · 2022Article
- Probing Patient Messages Enhanced by Natural Language Processing: A Top-Down Message Corpus Analysis.Health data science · 2021Article
- Facilitating Organizational Change to Accommodate an Inpatient Portal.Applied clinical informatics · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPatient portals, and the secure messaging feature in particular, have been studied in the outpatient setting, but research in the inpatient setting is relatively less mature.
objectiveTo understand the topics discussed in secure messaging in the inpatient environment, we analyzed and categorized messages sent within an inpatient portal. MATERIALS AND
methodsThis observational study examined the content of all secure messages sent from December 2013 to June 2017 within an inpatient portal at a large Midwestern academic medical center (AMC). We analyzed a total of 2,598 messages, categorizing them by sender (patient, family, or care team member), type, and topic, and conducted a descriptive analysis of categories and an examination of code co-occurrence.
resultsPatients were the most frequent message senders (63%); family members sent the fewest messages (10%). We identified five types of messages: Alert/Request; Thanks; Response; Question; and Other (typo/test message). Patient messages included Alerts/Requests (38%), Questions (31%), Statements of Thanks (24%), Response (1.2%), and Other (5%). We also identified 14 nonmutually exclusive message topics: Medication; Procedure/Treatment Plan; Schedule; Pain; Results; Diet; Discharge; Non-Medication Questions; Provider Requests; Symptoms; Custodial; Technical Issues; Potential Error; and Contact Information. Patient message topics most commonly discussed Symptoms (18%), Procedure/Treatment Plan (14%), or Pain (12%).
conclusionOur analysis of secure message content suggests certain message types and topics such as Alerts/Requests and Questions about symptoms and treatment plans are particularly important to patients. These findings demonstrate that both patients and family members utilize the secure messaging function to engage in the care process by posing questions, making requests, and alerting staff to problems. As this technology is implemented in additional facilities, future work should examine how use of secure messaging may be influenced by factors including patients' demographics, reasons for hospitalization, and length of stay.
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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.