TY - JOUR
T1 - How physician electronic health record screen sharing affects patient and doctor non-verbal communication in primary care
AU - Asan, Onur
AU - Young, Henry N.
AU - Chewning, Betty
AU - Montague, Enid
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
PY - 2015/3/1
Y1 - 2015/3/1
N2 - Objective: Use of electronic health records (EHRs) in primary-care exam rooms changes the dynamics of patient-physician interaction. This study examines and compares doctor-patient non-verbal communication (eye-gaze patterns) during primary care encounters for three different screen/information sharing groups: (1) active information sharing, (2) passive information sharing, and (3) technology withdrawal. Methods: Researchers video recorded 100 primary-care visits and coded the direction and duration of doctor and patient gaze. Descriptive statistics compared the length of gaze patterns as a percentage of visit length. Lag sequential analysis determined whether physician eye-gaze influenced patient eye gaze, and vice versa, and examined variations across groups. Results: Significant differences were found in duration of gaze across groups. Lag sequential analysis found significant associations between several gaze patterns. Some, such as DGP-PGD ("doctor gaze patient" followed by "patient gaze doctor") were significant for all groups. Others, such DGT-PGU ("doctor gaze technology" followed by "patient gaze unknown") were unique to one group. Conclusion: Some technology use styles (active information sharing) seem to create more patient engagement, while others (passive information sharing) lead to patient disengagement. Practice implications: Doctors can engage patients in communication by using EHRs in the visits. EHR training and design should facilitate this.
AB - Objective: Use of electronic health records (EHRs) in primary-care exam rooms changes the dynamics of patient-physician interaction. This study examines and compares doctor-patient non-verbal communication (eye-gaze patterns) during primary care encounters for three different screen/information sharing groups: (1) active information sharing, (2) passive information sharing, and (3) technology withdrawal. Methods: Researchers video recorded 100 primary-care visits and coded the direction and duration of doctor and patient gaze. Descriptive statistics compared the length of gaze patterns as a percentage of visit length. Lag sequential analysis determined whether physician eye-gaze influenced patient eye gaze, and vice versa, and examined variations across groups. Results: Significant differences were found in duration of gaze across groups. Lag sequential analysis found significant associations between several gaze patterns. Some, such as DGP-PGD ("doctor gaze patient" followed by "patient gaze doctor") were significant for all groups. Others, such DGT-PGU ("doctor gaze technology" followed by "patient gaze unknown") were unique to one group. Conclusion: Some technology use styles (active information sharing) seem to create more patient engagement, while others (passive information sharing) lead to patient disengagement. Practice implications: Doctors can engage patients in communication by using EHRs in the visits. EHR training and design should facilitate this.
KW - EHRs
KW - Physician-EHR interaction
KW - Physician-patient communication
KW - Primary care
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84921546386&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84921546386&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pec.2014.11.024
DO - 10.1016/j.pec.2014.11.024
M3 - Article
C2 - 25534022
AN - SCOPUS:84921546386
SN - 0738-3991
VL - 98
SP - 310
EP - 316
JO - Patient Education and Counseling
JF - Patient Education and Counseling
IS - 3
ER -