Providing a Personal Health Record System for Patients with Hypothyroid Disease

Hypothyroidism is a chronic disease in which patients become inattentive to their disease over time. Patients' management skills should be improved to minimize the risk of complications of this disease. This study aimed to provide a personal health record system for patients with hypothyroidism.

This developmental-applied research has been conducted in two phases. The first phase was the needs assessment, which was done with the participation of 10 endocrinologists. Then the prototype of the personal health record system was designed using ESP.NET in the Visual Studio software. In the second phase, system usability evaluation was performed by 52 patients. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, and the mean scores were classified into three levels as follows: "poor" (0-3), "moderate" (3.1-6), and "good" (6.1-9).

The findings of the first phase showed that data elements were recognized in six main groups, including demographic data, health history, general body examinations, laboratory results, treatment plan, and diagnostic information, and also 64 data elements approved by endocrinologists. Mean and standard deviation of usability evaluation according to users' point of view were reported in different indicators as follows: system usage (7.89±0.81), screen design (7.43±1.55), terminology and information (7.51±1.20), system learning capability (8.25±0.79) and overall system capabilities (8.14 ± 0.70). The usability of the system was evaluated as "good".

The output of this study was designing a personal health records system for hypothyroid patients. This system could be helpful for physicians and patients in terms of providing care plans for patients, collecting accurate information from patients, improving patient participation in treatment, enhancing life quality, and reducing costs.