A prior study could not demonstrate how the electronic health record (EHR) affected communication during face-to-face clinical encounters. For a study, researchers sought to examine the use of EHR-specific communication skills by health care practitioners and patient and practitioner experiences and views regarding EHR use during clinical interactions. From July 1, 2018, to August 31, 2018, investigators sent previously validated surveys to practitioners and adult patients (aged >18) in this study’s academic primary care offices in the United States. The electronic practitioner survey was finished before giving out printed surveys to patients after their appointments. The Cochran-Armitage test and descriptive statistics were used to make calculations to look at relationships between significant variables. The practitioner response rate was 72.9% (43/59), while the patient response rate was 45.2% (452/1,000). Practitioners reported making less eye contact (79.1%), listening less attentively (53.5%), concentrating less on patients (65.1%), and encounters seeming less personal (62.8%). However, patients said that practitioners made sufficient eye contact (96.8%) and listened attentively (97.0%); they disputed that practitioners paid less attention to them (86.7%) or that visits seemed less personal (87.2%). Patients believed EHR use was positive (91.7%); however, just one-third of practitioners (37.2%) believed that patients would concur. Insufficient time for EHR recording, stress, and weariness were all cited by practitioners. In the study, there was a discrepancy between patient and practitioner attitudes and experiences regarding the usage of EHRs, which seemed to affect practitioners’ experiences but not patients adversely. Therefore, organizations should make official efforts to improve the EHR user experience for practitioners.
Source – annfammed.org/content/20/4/312
