‘We are on the same page:' the importance of doctors EHR screen sharing for promoting shared information and collaborative decision-making

ABSTRACT

Background: Electronic Health Records (EHR) can help create patient ownership of information, enhance patient-centered collaborative advising, and increase advice utilization through increases in trust and memory of the information. Using research from advice and collaborative decision-making, we theorized about how doctors’ screen sharing EHR during an appointment should be beneficial.

Method: Thirteen doctors were interviewed about their perception and experience with screen sharing EHR with patients. Two coders, who are experts in collaborative decision-making, developed nine categories and then independently coded each interview.

Results: Doctors reported using screen sharing for repetition and increased recollection of doctor instructions. They reported that screen sharing increased collaborative decision-making and trust, promoted a common ground between the doctor and patient, and helped validate and create ownership of the information for patients. Doctors noted using screen sharing more for younger patients, who they perceived as expecting more use of technology, and new patients, to help increase trust. Further, doctors were more likely to share information they perceived that patients could understand, rather than complex information. Finally, doctors reported problems with screen sharing, like patients seeing sensitive information.

Conclusions: Doctor responses support previous research about the benefits of shared information for trusting information and utilizing advice.

KEYWORDS:

• Shared information
• doctor–patient communication
• screen sharing
• electronic health records
• advice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). All ethical guidelines for treatment of participants, according to the Institutional Review Board, were followed.

Notes on contributors

Lyn M. Van Swol (PhD, Social Psychology at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) is a professor at University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Communication Arts department. Her research interests in include use of information in decision-making, utilization of advice, and deception in negotiations.

Miranda Kolb (PhD, Communication Arts at University of Wisconsin–Madison) studies information sharing in groups and factors that affect the acceptance of information from others.

Onur Asan (PhD, Industrial Engineering at University of Wisconsin–Madison) specializes in human factors engineering. He also holds a minor degree in Applied Statistics. Dr. Asan is primarily interested in the application of theory, methods, and design from the discipline of human factors engineering to understand and enhance health care systems; in particular, interaction between people and technology (socio-technical system) in health care.