Observation and Patients' Perceptions of Incorporating Their Photograph Into the Electronic Health Record

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Patient Safety
• Clinical Workflow

Background:

• Wrong-patient errors pose significant risks in healthcare.
• Electronic health record (EHR) systems can mitigate these errors by displaying patient photographs.
• Patient refusal is a potential implementation barrier for EHR photo integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess patient refusal rates for photographs in EHRs.
• To understand patient perceptions regarding the benefits and barriers of EHR photo integration.

Main Methods:

• Direct observation of patient registration to record photo refusals.
• Semistructured interviews with patients to gather feedback on EHR photo integration.
• Study conducted in an emergency department and primary care clinic.

Main Results:

• No patient refusals were observed during 172 registration opportunities.
• Perceived benefits included improved security (40%), patient identification (23%), and registration ease (17%).
• A small number of patients expressed privacy concerns.

Conclusions:

• Patient refusal is not a significant barrier to implementing photographs in EHRs.
• Further efforts are needed to identify and address other potential barriers to maximize photo inclusion in medical records.