Patients in the South want their doctors to trade in pen and paper for electronic charting. That’s the takeaway message from a survey of more than 4,000 patients conducted by the consulting firm Software Advice.
Most patients don’t mind electronic note-taking during an exam. In fact, patients prefer it – especially in the South.
In a survey of 4,500 medical patients Software Advice found patients prefer doctors use electronic health records (EHRs) at the point of care as opposed to other charting methods, like the assistance of scribes.
Right now, around two-thirds of doctors use electronic medical records to keep track of patients’ health – but many physicians worry that they spend too much time taking notes instead of interacting with patients. That’s led some to hire medical scribes – assistants who enter electronic information during exams.
While most patients are fine with having an extra person in the exam room, this new survey shows patients were almost twice as likely to express concern over the use of scribes than over the doctor typing directly into a computer.
What’s worth noting is that patients are much more likely to be unhappy as a result of long wait times, unfriendly staff and trouble scheduling appointments than doctors using a computer in an exam.
