Ross Koppel, PhD, a sociologist and health IT scholar at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told Bloomberg Law that although training medical students to use the EHR is a commendable way to alleviate usability issues, the healthcare industry should first work toward improving the technology.
Dr. Koppel spoke with Bloomberg Law as part of the publication's analysis of whether physicians need better training on EHR systems. Earlier this month, the American Medical Association introduced a new policy encouraging medical schools and residency programs to design a clinical documentation and EHR training curriculum to ensure future physicians know how to use the technology.
The curriculum will, in part, help physicians-in-training navigate outdated EHR systems, which aren't as user-friendly as the technology students have grown up with.
"We already train students on how to use stethoscopes or blood pressure pumps, but EHRs are used for hours during the day, and we're not training them as if this is a tool they can use to make their patient care and clinical life more efficient," Susan Skochelak, MD, group vice president for medical education at the AMA, told Bloomberg Law.
Dr. Koppel said if there are methods to improve EHR skills among medical trainees, "so much the better." However, he emphasized these training initiatives should be approached alongside efforts to build up the outdated technology itself.
"Obviously, we need to do both, but I'd start by making the technology better," he told Bloomberg Law.
"The problem is that EHR systems are so user-hostile that it's like learning to drive a car that has a bad steering wheel," he added. "Wouldn't it be better to have steering wheels on your car that work better? Some of the EHR user interfaces are so lousy, that the training is essentially teaching people how to deal with frustration."