How physician electronic health record screen sharing affects patient and doctor non-verbal communication in primary care

Onur Asan, Henry N. Young, Betty Chewning, Enid Montague

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    66 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)310-316
    Number of pages7
    JournalPatient Education and Counseling
    Volume98
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 1 Mar 2015

    Keywords

    • EHRs
    • Physician-EHR interaction
    • Physician-patient communication
    • Primary care

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