Moms and dads armed with tablet computers and portal access to their child’s health information while the child is hospitalized have given the tool a big thumbs-up, according to a study published online June 14 in JAMIA.

Pediatric hospitalist Michelle Kelly, MD, University of Wisconsin, and colleagues set up 296 parents with the devices for the duration of their child’s hospitalization in a medical/surgical unit at a tertiary children’s hospital from December 2014 to June 2015.

The portal conveyed info on real-time hospital vitals, medications, schedules and lab results, along with educational materials plus photos and role descriptions of health-team members. The portal also facilitated requests and messaging.

For the study, Kelly and co-authors gathered data on portal usage from tablet metadata, surveyed the parents at discharge and analyzed results using descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis.

For health technophiles, the numbers were encouraging:

Ninety parents completed the survey. Most indicated that they were satisfied with the portal (90 percent), reporting that it was easy to use (98 percent), improved care (94 percent) and gave them access to information that helped them monitor, understand, make decisions and care for their child.

A majority of parents, 60 percent, reported that portal use improved health-team communication.

Most, 89 percent, perceived that portal use reduced errors in care.

Eight percent found errors in their child’s medication list.

Additionally, over the six-month period, the 296 parents sent 176 requests and 36 messages, and the most used and liked features included vitals, medication list, health-team information and schedules.

No tablets were lost or damaged.

“Overall, parents were satisfied with the inpatient portal,” Kelly and co-authors write in their conclusions. “Portals may engage parents in hospital care, facilitate parent recognition of medication errors, and improve perceptions of safety and quality.”