BackgroundThe Electronic Health Record (EHR) is now widely used in clinical encounters. Because its use can negatively impact the physician-patient relationship, several recommendations on the “patient-centered” use of the EHR have been published. However, the impact of training to improve EHR use during clinical encounters is not well known. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of training on residents’ EHR-related communication skills and explore whether they varied according to the content of the consultation.MethodsWe conducted a pre-post intervention study at the Primary Care Division of the Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland. Residents were invited to attend a 3-month training course that included 2 large group sessions and 2–4 individualized coaching sessions based on videotaped encounters. Outcomes were: 1) residents’ perceptions regarding the use of EHR, measured through a self-administered questionnaire and 2) objective use of the EHR during the first 10 min of patient encounters. Changes in practice were measured pre and post intervention using the Roter interaction analysis system (RIAS) and EHR specific items.ResultsSeventeen out of 27 residents took part in the study. Participants used EHR in about 30% of consultations. After training, they were less likely to consider EHR to be a barrier to the physician-patient relationship, and felt more comfortable using the EHR. After training, participants increased the use of signposting when using the EHR (pre: 0.77, SD 1.69; post: 1.80, SD3.35; p 0.035) and decreased EHR use when psychosocial issues appeared (pre: 24.5% and post: 9.76%, p < 0.001).ConclusionsThis study suggests that training can improve residents’ EHR-related communication skills, especially in situations where patients bring up sensitive psychosocial issues. Future research should focus on patients’ perceptions of the relevance and usefulness of such skills.

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PurposeThe use of electronic health records (EHRs) by physicians during the consultation is common and can be problematic. Factors influencing the use of EHRs during clinical encounters include physician and patient characteristics, consultation type as well as spatial organization of the room and type of EHR template. Their relative importance is however not well known. This study aimed to explore to what extent several physician, patient and consultation factors were associated with EHR use during the first 10 minutes of primary care consultations.MethodsWe examined EHR use of 17 residents in 142 videotaped consultations at the Primary Care Division of the Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland. We conducted univariable and multivariable analyses with patient, physician and consultation variables to predict EHR use: sex and age of the patient; physician’s sex, age, postgraduate experience and EHR-use self-perception; and language, type of consultation (new/follow-up) and content of the consultation using the Roter interaction analysis system (RIAS), the main variable being the percentage of utterances in relation to EHR use during the first 10 minutes.ResultsMale physicians (residents) and those with less clinical experience and conducting a new consultation or addressing biomedical content were positively correlated with EHR use (+5.3% for male physicians, P=0.101; +0.6% per year of experience, P=0.021; +6.0% for new consultation, P=0.097; +0.4% per 1% of biomedical content increase; P=0.018).ConclusionOnly a small number of physician, patient and consultation factors appear to have an impact on the use of EHR during primary care consultations, and this impact remains modest. Given the influence of EHR use on physician–patient relationship, further research should explore what other factors are implicated in EHR use and whether they can be changed or improved.