Integrating Patient-Centered Electronic Health Record Communication Training into Resident Onboarding: Curriculum...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Informatics
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Electronic health record (EHR) systems can impact the delivery of patient-centered care.
• Formal education on patient-centered EHR communication skills is lacking despite widespread EHR adoption.
• Effective EHR use is crucial for humanistic patient care and positive health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement mandatory patient-centered EHR training for all incoming housestaff.
• To assess the effectiveness of this training on housestaff knowledge and perceived skills.

Main Methods:

• A literature-based curriculum on patient-centered EHR best practices was created.
• Training was integrated into the mandatory EHR onboarding for 158 housestaff in 2015.
• A post-training survey with Likert scale and open-ended questions evaluated the program.

Main Results:

• All 158 participants completed the training and survey.
• Significant increases in self-perceived knowledge of EHR barriers, best practices, and skill implementation were observed.
• Most participants found the training effective (90.5%), recommended it be required (86.7%), and believed it would influence future practice (70.9%).

Conclusions:

• Integrating EHR communication skills into mandatory institutional training is an effective and novel method for educating trainees.
• This training can establish best practices and promote a culture of humanistic, patient-centered EHR utilization.