Humanistic Charting: Empowering Person-centered Emergency Care Through Reimagining the Electronic Health Record

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Patient-Centered Care
• Humanistic Medicine

Background:

• Standardization in healthcare has led to depersonalized patient care.
• Integrating patient narratives into electronic health records (EHRs) is challenging.
• Humanistic Charting aims to improve person-centered care (PCC) and reduce clinician workload.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and impact of the Humanistic Charting Tool (HCT) in an academic emergency department.
• To evaluate the HCT's ability to enhance person-centered care (PCC) and patient experience.
• To explore the HCT's potential in reducing clinician administrative burden and burnout.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study was conducted in an academic emergency department (ED) from February to April 2023.
• The study involved 6 clinicians and 29 adult patients using the HCT.
• Feasibility and impact were assessed via pre- and post-use surveys and interviews, with statistical analysis using paired t-tests.

Main Results:

• The HCT achieved high patient satisfaction, with significant improvements in patient-rated care experience metrics.
• Key improvements included enhanced respect for patient preferences and clinician availability.
• Both patients (NPS 52) and clinicians (NPS 83) reported excellent satisfaction, with clinicians noting a promotion of humanistic care and reduced burnout.

Conclusions:

• The HCT pilot study demonstrated feasibility and promise for enhancing PCC in the ED setting.
• Clinicians reported deeper patient insights and improved interaction quality, suggesting potential to counteract biases.
• The HCT shows potential for broader healthcare application in fostering humanism and PCC.