ArticleBMC health services research2022
What do primary care staff think about patients accessing electronic health records? A focus group study.
Article in BMC health services research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 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.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Providing Mobile Patient Access to Their Electronic Secondary Care Patient Record in Adults With Cystic Fibrosis: Results of a Prospective, Parallel, Randomized Open-Pilot Quantitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Trial
- Changes in Documentation After Implementing Open Notes in Mental Health Care: Pre-Post Mixed Methods Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Drivers of primary care appointment volumes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Impact of Patient Online Record Access on Documentation: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Qualitative evaluation of the implementation and national roll-out of the NHS App in England.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Experiences and opinions of general practitioners with patient online record access: an online survey in England.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Changes in Documentation Due to Patient Access to Electronic Health Records: Protocol for a Scoping Review.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- General Practices' Experiences With Patients' Web-Based Access to Medical Records: Survey Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Patient Online Record Access in English Primary Care: Qualitative Survey Study of General Practitioners' Views.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- The Impact of an Electronic Portal on Patient Encounters in Primary Care: Interrupted Time-Series Analysis.JMIR medical informatics · 2023Article
- Implications of the changes to patient online records access in English primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2022Article
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 at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPatients have expressed a growing interest in having easy access to their personal health information, and internationally there has been increasing policy focus on patient and care records being more accessible. Limited research from the UK has qualitatively explored this topic from the primary care staff perspective. This study aimed to understand what primary care staff think about patients accessing electronic health records, highlighting errors in electronic health records, and providing feedback via online patient portals.
methodsA focus group study involving 19 clinical and non-clinical primary care staff. Primary care practices were purposively sampled based on practice size and the percentage of patients using online services. Data were analysed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis.
resultsThree themes were generated: (1) Information - what, why and when? (2) Changing behaviours and protecting relationships, and (3) Secure access and safeguarding. The emotional considerations and consequences for staff and patients featured prominently in the data as an overarching theme.
conclusionsPrimary care staff described being invested and supportive of patients accessing their electronic health records, and acknowledged the numerous potential benefits for safety. Uncertainty around the parameters of access, the information available and what this might look like in the future, processes for patients highlighting errors in records, relational issues, security and safeguarding and equitable access, were key areas warranting examination in future research.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.