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Clinician perceptions of pediatric growth chart use and electronic health records in Kentucky
1Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles.
Insights
Pediatric clinicians are slowly adopting electronic health records (EHRs) for growth charting, facing barriers but recognizing benefits for efficiency and patient engagement. Greater EHR adoption is anticipated as these systems become standard in healthcare.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare informatics
- Clinical practice research
- Health information technology adoption
Background:
- Growth chart recording is essential in pediatric care, with electronic health records (EHRs) offering potential advantages over paper methods.
- Limited U.S. research exists on clinicians' experiences with electronic growth parameter recording.
- This study addresses the gap by exploring perceptions and practices of clinicians adapting to electronic growth charting.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine clinician practices for recording growth parameters during the transition to EHRs.
- To investigate clinician perceptions of electronic growth charting functionalities within EHR systems.
- To identify barriers and facilitators to the adoption of electronic growth charting.
Main Methods:
- An online survey was administered to pediatricians and family practitioners in Kentucky.
- The survey focused on EHR usage, specifically the utilization of growth charting features within EHRs.
- Data collected included adoption rates, platform usage, and perceived benefits and challenges.
Main Results:
- 46% of respondents used EHRs, with pediatricians and academic pediatricians showing lower adoption rates than their counterparts.
- A significant portion (nearly one-third) of EHR users did not utilize electronic growth charting features.
- EHR users reported improved clinician and parent satisfaction, enhanced clinical efficiency, and better parent education and engagement regarding growth parameters.
Conclusions:
- Despite slow adoption in Kentucky, barriers to widespread electronic growth charting persist in pediatric and family practices.
- Electronic growth charting offers substantial benefits for both clinicians and patients, including improved satisfaction and efficiency.
- Increased adoption of electronic growth charting is expected as EHRs become more integrated into healthcare systems.
Background:
Growth chart recording is a key component of pediatric care. EHR systems could provide several growth charting functionalities compared to paper methods. To our knowledge, there has been no U.S. study exploring clinicians' perceptions and practices related to recording of growth parameters as they adapt to electronic methods.
Objectives:
To explore clinician practices regarding recording growth parameters as they adapt to electronic health records (EHR) and to investigate clinician perceptions of electronic growth charting using EHR.
Methods:
An online survey of pediatricians and family practitioners in Kentucky inquiring about EHR usage, specifically use of growth charting with EHR, was conducted.
Results:
Forty-six percent of respondents utilized EHRs, with pediatricians lagging family practitioners, and academic pediatricians lagging non-academicians. There was no consensus on EHR platforms being used. Almost a third of those who used EHR did not utilize electronic growth charting. Clinicians using EHR reported that electronic growth charts would improve clinician satisfaction and clinical efficiency as well as parent satisfaction and parent education. Only 12% of respondents provided copies of growth charts to parents at the end of their visit and discussed growth parameters with parents, with clinicians using EHR more likely to engage in these activities than non-EHR users.
Conclusion:
Although Kentucky clinicians continue to slowly adopt EHRs, clinician perceptions and practices reflect enduring barriers to widespread use of electronic growth charting in pediatric and family practice. However, our results suggest that electronic growth charting has important benefits for both clinicians and patients, and greater adoption is expected as EHRs become standard across health care systems.
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