“‘Physicians think in stories,’ said Dr. C. T. Lin, a practicing internist and chief medical information officer for the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver, which has used electronic records since 1994. ‘How can you possibly point and click your way through a patient’s 10-year history?'”
Because of EMRs’ potential negative impact on patient-provider interactions, providers must be careful to not let technology distract them from a personal interaction with patients.
Unfortunately, many best practices in this area are established by commonsense rather than evidence. While using commonsense best practices is better than keeping your back to the patient, more research should be done to examine how to best interact with patients and an EMR.
Some research suggests that EMRs can improve patient-provider interactions if providers engage patients with the computer screen — for example, to confirm information entry, view lab results and/or explain digital images.
While we wait for more research in this area, a commonsense approach to engaging patients and entering information into EMRs is helpful. For an example of what not to do, see this video below on how not to use an EMR.
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How have EMRs affected your practice and interactions with patients?