Digital Health Week 2025 ePoster Gallery

#Digitalhealthweek2025

Patient portals have been increasingly used to support care delivery in healthcare organisations. Patient portals have demonstrated their benefits in previous studies, however, often face implementation challenges that impact their uptake once translated into a real-world setting. To further understand these challenges and how they may be resolved, existing studies have explored the barriers and facilitators to implementing portals from the perspective of its users. However, the perspectives of implementers (e.g. information technology staff, vendors and support staff) on the factors impacting the implementation of patient portals remain unclear. This project aimed to identify barriers and facilitators of the implementation of a patient portal from the perspective of the implementers. The study was conducted at a public dental hospital in New South Wales, Australia, to assess the implementation of Florence, a web-based patient portal for managing appointments and reducing non-attendance. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 participants from the vendor, hospital, and IT teams. Data was analysed using inductive thematic analysis and mapped to the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). The key facilitators were most relevant to the CFIR domains: process and outcomes‚ which were good staff training and implementation resources as well as, staff and health service benefits. Whilst key barriers were most relevant to the inner setting and intervention characteristics, including varying workflow and clinic characteristics and integration challenges. Overall, findings from our research provide invaluable insight into the complexities of implementing patient portals and highlights the need for addressing technological and organisational challenges in order to maximise the potential of digital health platforms such as Florence.