A Qualitative Retrospective Chart Review of Remote Communication for Rural Older Cancer Survivors
Allie Hzerron, Laura Berger, Kennedy Franklin, Bailey Pilson, Priyanka Dadha, Marquita W. LewisBackground:
Evidence assessing rural older cancer survivors’ patient portal use is limited. To this end, we analyzed My Chart messages among this group to reveal key insights into their patient portal use.
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective qualitative chart review of MyChart messages from cancer patients aged at least 65 years and from rural ZIP codes receiving care at an urban hospital from March 1, 2020, to May 25, 2023.
Results:
The resulting sample consisted of 860 coded messages from 411 patients. The qualitative analysis yielded 1,295 coded occurrences, from which nine themes emerged. The most frequent coded messages were identified as
Conclusion:
Our analysis of MyChart messages of rural older cancer survivors demonstrates high engagement with MyChart messaging and has implications for the use of tailored patient portal designs for this uniquely vulnerable patient population.