New Zealanders’ attitudes towards access to their electronic health records: Preliminary results from a national study using vignettes

• Published in: Health informatics journal 2009-09, Vol.15 (3), p.212-228
• Main Authors: Hunter, Inga M., Whiddett, Richard J., Norris, Anthony C., McDonald, Barry W., Waldon, John A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Access to information; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cluster Analysis; Computer Security; Computerized records management AW; Confidentiality; Female; Focus Groups; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Surveys; Humans; Informed Consent; Male; Medical records; Medical Records Systems, Computerized; Middle Aged; Models, Theoretical; New Zealand; Patient Access to Records; Personal information; Pilot Projects; Privacy; Program Evaluation; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1460-4582; 1741-2811
• DOI: 10.1177/1460458209337435

This project investigates public attitudes towards sharing confidential personal health information held in electronic health records (EHRs). The project uses computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) to conduct a quantitative national survey of the attitudes of New Zealanders towards access to their personal health information using vignettes. Respondents are presented with vignettes which describe ways in which their health information might be used, and asked about their attitude to and consent for each type of access. The project outcome will be a specification of requirements for an e-consent model meeting the needs of most New Zealanders, thus enabling the potential benefits of electronically sharing confidential health information from EHRs. This article presents preliminary results from the first 1828 respondents. Respondents were most willing to share their information for the purpose of providing care. However, removing their name and address greatly increased the acceptability of sharing information for other purposes.