Provider Experiences With Offering Families Bedside Health Record Access Across a Children's Hospital.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluate provider experiences with a bedside tablet inpatient portal application given to hospitalized patients and families across a children’s hospital. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, English-speaking parents of children RESULTS: Of 1892 admissions given a tablet over 5 months, 1502 (79.4%) logged in to view their inpatient health record at least once during their hospital stay. No tablets were lost or stolen. Of 101 providers, 96 completed the survey (a response rate of 95%). They reported that patients and/or parents asked them questions about information they found, including laboratory results (45% of respondents), medications (13%), diagnoses (13%), and errors and/or mistakes in care (3%). Few perceived spending more time answering questions related to portal use (8%) or that it increased their workload (11%). In all, 92% of providers wanted patients and parents to continue to be able to use the portal. CONCLUSIONS: Almost 80% of hospitalized patients and parents given a tablet accessed real-time information from the inpatient health record. The portal facilitated communication about test results, diagnoses, and medications and providers overwhelmingly supported its ongoing use.