A study in Annals of Family Medicine investigated the impact of clinicians setting collaborative visit agendas with their patients.
The researchers — led by McHale O. Anderson, a researcher at University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle — asked patients to input their intended primary care visit agendas directly into an EMR's notes prior to seeing their clinician. In total, 101 patients and 28 clinicians completed post-visit surveys about the experience.
The researchers found the majority of both clinicians (74 percent) and patients (79 percent) identified improved patient-clinician communication after this intervention. Clinicians (82 percent) and patients (73 percent) also tended to report interest in continuing this type of interaction at future visits.
"Enabling patients to type visit agendas may enhance care by engaging patients and giving clinicians an efficient way to prioritize patients' concerns," the researchers concluded.