ArticleThe Journal of surgical research2019
Care Delivered by Pediatric Surgical Specialties Through Patient Portal Messaging.
Article in The Journal of surgical research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 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
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- A scoping review of studies on secure messaging through patient portals: persistent challenges and potential solutions.npj health systems · 2026Article
- Patient Portal Use Among Admitted Surgical Patients Following the 21st Century Cures Act.JAMA surgery · 2025Article
- The blue tick: WhatsApp as a care tool in pediatric palliative care.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Evaluation of a Secure Messaging System in the Care of Children With Medical Complexity: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Intimate Partner Violence and the Pediatric Electronic Health Record: A Qualitative Study.Academic pediatrics · 2022Article
- Patient portals for the adolescent and young adult population: Benefits, risks and guidance for use.Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care · 2021Article
- Connected Subspecialty Care: Applying Telehealth Strategies to Specific Referral Barriers.Academic pediatricsReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPatient portals are online applications that typically allow users to interact with providers using secure messaging. Portal messaging use and content have not been studied in pediatric surgical specialties. MATERIALS AND
methodsWe obtained all message threads initiated by pediatric patients/caregivers and sent to pediatric surgical providers through the Vanderbilt University Medical Center patient portal from June 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014. We collected patient demographics and providers' surgical specialties. We determined the number of message threads and individual messages sent by patients/caregivers and providers by specialty. Message content was analyzed by semantic types using a validated consumer health taxonomy.
resultsMost threads were about male (176, 60.3%), white (239, 81.8%), non-Hispanic (278, 95.2%) patients with a median age of 6 y (range: 0-21 y). A total of 292 message threads containing 1679 individual messages were sent with mean 5.8 (standard deviation [SD] 5.0) messages per thread. Messages were sent more frequently regarding younger patients (P = 0.001). Physicians directly contributed to 161 (55%) message threads. Otolaryngology received the most threads (123, 42.1%) and messages (790, 47.1%). Specialties exchanging the most messages per thread were cardiac surgery (mean 7.0, SD 11.7), and dermatology (7.0, SD 6.9). Most message threads (273, 93.5%) involved delivery of medical care with 123 (42.1%) involving appointments/scheduling; 99 (33.9%) medical problems; 81 (27.7%) treatments; 68 (23.3%) testing; and 29 (9.9%) referrals.
conclusionsPediatric surgeons deliver substantial care within portal messages exchanged with pediatric patients and caregivers. Institutions adopting portals should consider effects on provider workload and potential disparities in access to care.
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