TY - JOUR T1 - Improving transparency in hospitals: perspectives on implementing an inpatient portal JF - Future Healthcare Journal JO - Future Healthc J SP - 326 LP - 329 DO - 10.7861/fhj.2021-0127 VL - 9 IS - 3 AU - Michelle M Kelly AU - Shannon M Dean Y1 - 2022/11/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/9/3/326.abstract N2 - KEYWORDS:Engaging patients and caregivers in their healthcare is an essential component to improving care quality and patient safety.1 Patient portals, personal health records tethered to electronic health records (EHRs), are intended to promote engagement by giving patients and caregivers online access to their clinical data and the ability to communicate with their providers through secure messaging.2 Until recently, patient portals have almost exclusively been used as a mechanism to share healthcare information with patients from clinical visits in the ambulatory setting. This was due, in part, to hardware and software limitations in the inpatient setting, but also provider reluctance to share real-time clinical information during hospitalisation.A growing body of literature suggests that patient portals are beginning to play an important role in engaging patients during their acute hospital stay.3 These ‘inpatient portals’ or ‘acute care portals’ have been redesigned to provide inpatients and/or their caregiver proxies with secure access to personalised health information and tools to enhance their engagement at the bedside. These patient-facing, web-based applications are typically offered to admitted patients on hospital-owned tablet computers for use throughout their inpatient stay. They provide patients with access to real-time information directly from the hospital EHR, such as their daily clinical schedule, problem list, medication information, test results and a way to recognise and communicate with their inpatient providers.Published research findings suggest that inpatient portals are desired by both patients and their caregivers.4,5 By accessing their clinical information within these portals, hospitalised patients report improved understanding of their health conditions and feeling more in control of their care.6 Importantly, patients using inpatient portals have also identified medical errors.7 Thus, their use may play a role in enhancing our ability to partner with patients and caregivers to improve the safety of inpatient care.Despite … ER -