A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine found patients had negative perceptions of physicians who spent a lot of time on the computer during patient examinations, giving lower ratings to care quality, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Richard Frankel, PhD, with the Regenstreif Institute at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis developed a guideline for clinicians to mitigate these concerns.
Dr. Frankel's guideline, POISED, seeks to boost communication efficacy for clinicians who have to record patient data electronically. He outlined the guidelines in a letter to JAMA Internal Medicine.
Here are the POISED guidelines.
Prepare: Review a patient's medical record before entering the room for an examination. This saves a couple of minutes of potentially lost face time if a clinician is silently looking at the chart in the room with the patient.
Orient: By explaining to the patient how the computer will be used during the examination, clinicians can alert patients in advance to their intent to use the computer.
Information gathering: To show that clinicians are listening to patient concerns, Dr. Frankel suggests entering the data with patients. This shows what the patient is saying is valid and must be noted in the medical record.
Share: Let the patients look at the screen so they can see the information being entered.
Educate: Showing patients graphs and data points in their records can help patients both learn more about their health and become more engaged.
Debrief: At the end of an examination, review what was discussed to ensure the patient understands everything.
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