TY - JOUR T1 - The challenge of involving elderly patients in primary care using an electronic communication tool with their professionals: a mixed methods study JF - BMJ Health & Care Informatics SP - 275 LP - 283 DO - 10.14236/jhi.v24i3.937 VL - 24 IS - 3 AU - Catharina C. de Jong AU - Wynand J. G. Ros AU - Mia van Leeuwen AU - Guus Schrijvers Y1 - 2017/07/01 UR - http://informatics.bmj.com/content/24/3/275.abstract N2 - Background Elderly patients in primary care often have multiple health problems, with different healthcare professionals involved. For consistency in care, it is required that communication amongst professionals and patient-systems (patient and informal-carers) be well tuned. Electronic-communication can make it easier for patient-system to be active in care.Objective To examine whether an e-communication tool (Congredi) designed for professionals, including a care plan and secure e-mail, is usable for patient-systems and what their experiences are.Methods In a multi-method study, home-dwelling elderly patients with two or more professionals were invited to use Congredi; data were gathered from the system after 42 weeks. Also semi-structured interviews were undertaken with patient-systems with topics retrieved from literature. Analysis took place by two researchers independently; the themes were extracted together by consensus.Results Data about actual use of the tool were gathered from 22 patients. Four profiles of Congredi-users were distinguished, varying in intensity of use. Data from interviews with members of patient-systems (n = 7) showed that they were motivated and able to use Congredi. Barriers in daily use were limited participation of professionals, unanswered e-mail and not being alerted about actions. Despite limitations, patient-systems retained their motivation.Conclusion Congredi was usable for patient-systems. The barriers found seem not to be tool-related but primarily user-related. An important barrier for daily use was limited active participation of involved professionals in a complete feedback loop. Potential for future implementation was found, as patient-systems were intrinsically motivated for better feedback with the professionals, even though in this study it only partly met their expectations. ER -