Personal health records have been going electronic, and patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers are learning to navigate the new digital world of health information. Now three institutions are teaming up to discover how a large population—people with disabilities—can best access this information.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Inglis Foundation, also based in Philadelphia, are partnering with Boston public broadcaster WGBH's Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) on a joint project to explore how adaptive technology can make personal health records (PHR) accessible to people with disabilities. NCAM is the project leader and principal recipient of the three-year, $600,000 grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education.
The grant, titled "Accessible Designs for Personal Health Records," is funded by the Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The project began operations last month.
"Approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population has some type of disability, and three percent has a severe disability, but there has been little research on how people with disabilities access their own electronic health records," said Dean Karavite, lead human-computer interaction specialist at the Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMi) at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "As with any patient, accessing such information gives someone more control over their own health care."
Project staff members will systematically observe consumers served by Inglis Foundation as they perform tasks and seek information in their own electronic health records (EHRs). Inglis serves over 900 adults with physical disabilities in the Philadelphia area through its skilled nursing facility, Inglis House, and for those living independently in the community, through its accessible apartments, care management, and employment and adult day services.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/07/4036902/grant-will-help-bridge-digital.html#ixzz1dG7xwri3
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