Negative Effect of Electronic Health Records system on Patients' Perception of Physician's Empathy

Aims: The use of electronic health record systems has been developed in the health system, but it is still not clear whether empathy is created in patient visits with this system. The present study aimed to compare patients’ perceptions of physicians’ empathy after the patient viewed standardized and scripted video vignettes of two physicians, which one used the electronic health record system during his visit, and the other one visited the patient without electronic health record system. Materials & Methods: This study is a cross-sectional, double-blind, quasi-experimental study with only a post-test, which was conducted in Isfahan Omid Hospital, Isfahan, Iran. ۱۲۰ eligible patients were selected using convenience sampling method and randomly divided into two groups (each ۶۰ patients) in a cross-over study plan. In group ۱, the first arm viewed the electronic health record video, and the second arm viewed video of visit without electronic health record, and in group ۲ vice versa. The data were gathered by Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy, after each intervention. Finding: The video of the visit without the electronic health record system compared to the visit with the electronic health record system had a significantly better empathy score in each arm of the participants (p<۰.۰۵). Conclusion: Cancer patients perceive more empathy in physicians who do not use the electronic health record system during visits and consider this strategy more empathetic.

Keywords:

Communication , Electronic Health Records , Empathy , Hematology , Neoplasms , Patients , Physicians