Project

Training Clinicians to Maintain Patient-Centered Communication with Electronic Health Records During Clinic Visits

Project Title

Feasibility of a communication training program to improve patient-provider communication with electronic medical record

Funder

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Study Dates

6/1/15 - 8/31/17

Publications

  • Patel MR, Smith A, Leo H, Hao W, Zheng K. Improving patient–provider communication and therapeutic practice through better integration of electronic health records in the exam room: a pilot study. Health Education & Behavior, 2018 Sep 8:1090198118796879.

  • Patel MR, Vichich J, Lang I, Lin J, Zheng K. Developing an evidence-base of best practices for integrating computerized systems into the exam room: a systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2017 Apr 1;24(e1):e207-e215.

  • Perry T, Patel MR, Li J. Elevating health disparities education among trainees and physicians. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2022 Jan 14:S2213-2198(22)00013-7.

  • Patel MR, Friese CR, Mendelsohn-Victor K, Fauer AJ*, Ghosh B, Bedard L, Griggs JJ, Manojlovich M. Clinician perspectives on electronic health records, communication, and patient safety across diverse medical oncology practices. Journal of Oncology Practice 2019 Jun;15(6):e529-e536.

  • Patel MR, Smith A, Leo H, Hao W*, Zheng K. Improving patient–provider communication and therapeutic practice through better integration of electronic health records in the exam room: a pilot study. Health Education & Behavior, 2019 Jun;46(3):484-493.

About

The goal of this pilot study was to develop and test the feasibility of an intervention that promoted the seamless integration of health IT applications, particularly electronic health records (EHR), in clinical settings by specifically training clinicians on best practices for utilizing such systems while maintaining patient-centered communication and enhancing therapeutic practice. 

We found that our intervention can significantly increase provider confidence, adoption of communication and interaction behaviors to better accommodate computer presence in the exam room, provision of guideline recommended care, as well as decreased perception that the computer interferes with their interactions with patients.