Patient stress and the computer in the consulting room

This study assesses patient reactions to the use of diagnostic computers by doctors. The setting was a hospital out-patient clinic, and the patients were new referrals with dyspeptic symptoms. Patient reactions were measured through a mood questionnaire of stress and arousal, and a questionnaire on attitudes to the medical use of computers. Patient self-reported stress was more likely to have increased after the consultation if the computer had been used (P less than 0.05). There was a trend for computer patients to show attenuation of the typical post-consultation drop in stress. However, patients who had experienced the computer being used had more favourable attitudes towards medical computer use that inexperienced patients (as assessed by a subsequent postal survey; P = 0.007). Multiple regression showed that while experience of the computer was a determinant of attitudes, patient stress after the consultation was extremely significant (P less than 0.001) with highly-stressed patients being the least welcoming to medical computers, whether or not they had experience of the computer. It is suggested that doctors planning to use computers should take care to preserve their 'human touch' particularly for nervous patients.