An Asthma Specialist’s Consult Letter: What Do Parents Think About Receiving a Copy?

• Main Authors: Amirav I, Vandall-Walker V, Rasiah J, Saunders L, Belur H, Sahlin B, Roduta Roberts M, Redlich-Amirav D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2020-05-01
• Series: Journal of Asthma and Allergy
• Subjects: patient perspectives; provider- patient communication; asthma; parents
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/an-asthma-specialistrsquos-consult-letter-what-do-parents-think-about--peer-reviewed-article-JAA
• ISSN: 1178-6965

Israel Amirav,1,* Virginia Vandall-Walker,2,3,* Jananee Rasiah,2,3 Laura Saunders,4 Harsha Belur,4 Brenda Sahlin,4 Mary Roduta Roberts,5 Dorit Redlich-Amirav6 1Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 2Patient Engagement Platform, Alberta SPOR Support Unit, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 3Faculty of Health Disciplines, Athabasca University, Athabasca & Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 4Parent Advisory Council, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 5Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 6Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Israel AmiravPediatric Pulmonology Unit, Dana-Dwek Children’s Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, IsraelTel [phone]Email [e-mail]: Written summaries about visits with general practitioners’ have influenced increased patient knowledge, satisfaction, recollection, and compliance, and strengthened the doctor–patient relationship. All previous studies about this communication pre-dated the electronic medical record (EMR) era, and none examined views from parents of children with asthma. We explored parents’ perceptions about receiving a hard copy summary Letter immediately following the visit, with the pediatric asthma specialist about findings and the care plan for their child.Methods: A Parent Advisory Council helped inform this pilot study, an observational cross-sectional electronic survey. Each Letter included a comprehensive summary of the child’s visit with the specialist.Results: Previous findings from patients about the benefits of receiving this Letter were strongly supported by data from 51 participants. Interestingly, more than 54% of respondents preferred receiving a hard copy Letter over an electronic copy, and 98% wanted other clinicians to adopt this practice.Conclusion: Parents of children with asthma value and want timely written information of this nature from other clinicians.Practice Implications: These results can influence further asthma research to promote a change in the perceptions of clinicians, parents, and patients about timely access to health information in the EMR era.Keywords: patient perspectives, provider–patient communication, asthma, parents