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Article History

Received: 17 May 2017

Accepted: 31 July 2017

First Online: 4 August 2017

Author information

: This project brought together an exceptional team of researchers from multiple disciplines and a patient advocate. Principal investigator Marge Benham-Hutchins’ program of research has focused on the socio-technical aspects of health care delivery including the influence of health information technology on communication and information exchange between providers during handoff. Dr. Benham-Hutchins is experienced in the analysis of network, quantitative and qualitative data. Nancy Staggers is a highly regarded nursing informatics pioneer with extensive research experience. Her foundational work helped define nursing informatics competencies and inform the design of technology that supported clinician productivity and effectiveness. Her more recent work has been focused on patient centered shift change handoff, including the determination of clinician and patient information requirements. Michael Mackert brings his expertise in health literacy and health promotion interventions that can reach patient populations of all health literacy levels. Dr. Mackert also has experience working on a nursing led research team that examined cancer support and community based educational interventions for individuals with disabilities who also have cancer. Alisha Johnson is a second year doctoral student at UT School of Nursing. Dave deBronkart, also known as e-Patient Dave, is an internationally known voice for patient engagement. Dave has chronicled his personal journey from cancer diagnosis to cancer survivor. In addition to numerous consulting and speaking engagements with health care stakeholders, his book, “Let Patients Help,” is available in six languages. He is currently the first patient to be invited to be a visiting professor in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

: This study has been approved by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin IRB: Protocol # 2015–06-0016. Potential participants were able to review study information on a webpage before deciding to click on the survey link. Upon accessing the survey the participants were provided with a study disclaimer that incorporated all the basic elements of informed consent per regulatory guidelines and approved by the UT IRB. The online survey was designed so that potential participants clicking on the survey link were first provided an overview of the study, expected participant time burden, and the study disclaimer. They were asked to acknowledge the information and that by clicking on a clearly labeled button that they were agreeing to participate in the study. Participant names were not be collected. Participants were not required to answer any specific questions and could decide at any time not to continue. Participants had to click on a clearly labeled button to submit their responses.

: Not applicable.

: Dd is a paid consultant and speaker on patient engagement. MBH, MM, NS, and AJ have no competing interests.

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