The article is a research based on secondary sources to establish how EMR impact the doctor-patient relationship. A literature review of the subject is conducted from relevant sources such as the Ovid MEDICINE with a clear focus on key terminologies that are related to medical technology and communications. The study quashes the objective evidence which shows that the use of EMR may negatively affect communication between a doctor and a patient. After exploring several studies that examine the perceptions of patients, such hypothesized impact was not established on change in patient-doctor communication or the level of patient satisfaction. The researchers therefore, recommend that the study findings can be useful in encouraging physicians and other concerned stakeholders to adopt EMR as an essential tool of communication. Furthermore, they recommend further studies that would explain the ways of enhancing EMR based patient-doctor communication. The study correlates the behavior of physicians to patient’s level of satisfaction, with a focus on training and communication skills of physicians and their effect on inpatient experiences.
Third Step: The Focus (Main Points) of the Article
Objective measure of communication behaviors of physicians indicates both negative and positive impacts on EMR. On the other, a measure of patients’ perceptions shows no impact on EMR.
Fourth Step: Key Words and Definitions
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) - computerized medical records.
Patient-doctor relationship – the professional interaction between a physician and a patient with the sole purpose of helping the patient health wise.
Communication – the interactive exchange of information between two or more parties; in this context, it is between a patient and a physician.
Step Five: Rationale (Why the Author Conducted the Study/Wrote the Article)
The study investigates how EMR affects the relationships between a patient and a doctor. Since the research depends on secondary sources, the researchers wanted to find out the findings of earlier researches on the subject before this study.
Step Six: Participants and Methods used in the Study?
The study was based basically on secondary sources. A literature review was conducted on Ovid MEDICINE published between 1995 and 2015 with a focus on exploring Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) essesntial keywords and terms which are related to communication, technology and relationship terminology with reference to a biomedical librarian (DW). Parallel searches were conducted in Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO as well as the Cochrane Library. Two independent expert reviewers were employed to review the results to make sure that key articles were among the reviewed sources. No particular individuals were used as the participants; the two expert reviewers were part of the research team to increase the probability of obtaining reliable findings.
Step Seven: Findings and Theories
Among the 7445 articles that were identified, 53 met the inclusion criteria and were therefore selected for review. Out of the 53, 28 of them had an objective measure of communications behaviors with the use of video tapes or a record of directly observing the clinical encounters. The remaining 25 examined the perception of patients either through surveys or interviews. Objective studies showed EMR communication traits which were potentially negative with aspects such as interrupted speech as well as positive behaviors like facilitation of questions. Studies which examined patients’ perceptions about communication, satisfaction or the relationships between a doctor and a patient indicated no change in using EMR.
Step Eight: Quotes and Uses
“Therefore, our findings should encourage providers to adopt the EMR as a communication tool” (p.548). This quote elaborates that EMR are essential.
“Lack of change in overall patient perceptions may be surprising to clinicians, given accounts of negative provider attitudes to EMR implementation” (p.557). This study shows that the perceptions of patients have no effect on the use of EMR.
