Patient-focused information technologies, like clinician-focused information technologies are used to help improve patients’ health. These technologies, which include electronic bulletin boards, patient-monitoring systems, and videophones, are used by patients, caregivers, and home-care providers to improve the health of patients outside the traditional clinical setting. Studies show that even with little attention to racial and ethnic factors, patient-focused information technologies may help reduce healthcare disparities between persons of varying races, ethnicities, and cultures. These disparities, however, may be further reduced through the use of culturally informed patient-centered information technologies. In this chapter, we discuss how patient-focused information technologies can be effectively designed to further mitigate disparities between racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.
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Valdez, R.S., Brennan, P.F. (2008). Medical Informatics. In: Gibbons, M.C. (eds) eHealth Solutions for Healthcare Disparities. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72815-5_10
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