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Twitter debate: Which is better – patient portals or calling the nurse?

During the Reaching the Unreachables panel Tuesday at ENGAGE, Dr. Steve North described the challenges of working in a rural setting – specifically Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Spruce Pine is in western tip of the state squeezed between the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest in the Great Smoky Mountains. “I have an […]

By on October 02, 2014

During the Reaching the Unreachables panel Tuesday at ENGAGE, Dr. Steve North described the challenges of working in a rural setting – specifically Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Spruce Pine is in western tip of the state squeezed between the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest in the Great Smoky Mountains.

“I have an Internet connection that doesn’t meet FCC requirements, so I can’t stream Netflix at my house but my kids can play Minecraft, so that’s good,” he said. “I can get four bars on my phone if I walk to the end of my driveway.”

He also mentioned patient portals. Obviously if a person doesn’t have a strong Internet connection, she can’t use a patient portal. North also pointed out that calling a nurse can put health information in context for a patient in a way that a portal cannot.

“A nurse could say, “Well, Mr. Smith, your bad cholesterol is up, but so is your good cholesterol, so you’re probably doing OK,” he said.

I tweeted this comment, because it seemed logical to me and definitely reflected my lousy experience with patient portals. I didn’t think there was much debate here, but that’s what you get for underestimating the audience at ENGAGE (not to mention the range of experiences represented on Twitter).

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By PurpleLab

And Carly Medosch pointed out that someones a phone call is not an option in the first place.

There were a few people who agreed with me.

This Twitter conversation shows that the quality and usability of portals is all over the map, and that a tool is only useful if people start using it.