The American Medical Association has released a policy report detailing best practices for physician use of electronic health records in front of patients.
The report notes that while EHRs have many advantages over traditional paper records, using a computer during patient interactions can shift physicians' attention away from patients, encourage a focus on clinical over psychological issues and disrupt or slow physicians' workflow.
The most important factors to a successful interaction are a physician's communication skills and their comfort working with computers. To further aid in there interactions, the report offers nine best practices for physicians, drawn from Kaiser Permanente's Interregional Clinical-Patient Communication Leaders and Family Practice Management:
- Let the patient see the screen and the data entered and offer the opportunity to confirm information.
- Maintain eye contact with the patient.
- Use a mobile monitor, if possible.
- Separate routine data entry from patient encounters.
- Improve typing skills as needed.
- Acknowledge the computer as a clinical tool, and explain the benefits to the patient.
- Explain actions on the computer to the patient.
- Address all patient concerns.
- Announce when the patient's EHR has been logged out, and that all data is secure.
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