title: Impact of electronic health records on the patient experience in a hospital setting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The impact of electronic health records (EHRs) and their effects on optimizing the patient experience has been debated nationally. Currently, there is a paucity of data in this area, and existing research offers conflicting results. Since 2006, the Assessing Residents' CI-CARE (ARC) program has evaluated the physician-patient interaction of resident physicians at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health utilizing a 20-item questionnaire administered through facilitator-patient interviews.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of EHR implementation on the patient experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two academic medical campuses: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 3417 surveys, spanning December 1, 2012 to May 30, 2013, were assessed. This included patient representation from 9 departments within UCLA Health. Surveys were analyzed to assess physician-patient communication. Statistical comparisons were made using χ analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 16 questions assessing physician-patient communication received better responses in the 3 months following EHR implementation, compared to the 3 months prior to implementation. Of these, 9 questions illustrated statistically significant improvement, whereas the improvement in the remaining 7 questions was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that EHRs may improve physician-patient communication. The ARC infrastructure allowed for observation of this trend; however, future research should aim to further validate and understand the etiologies of this improvement.
authors: Assessing Residents' CI-CARE Medical Program, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors: Christopher W
authors: CW
authors: Migdal
authors: Aram A
authors: AA
authors: Namavar
authors: Virgie N
authors: VN
authors: Mosley
authors: Nasim
authors: N
authors: Afsar-manesh
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D003142:Communication; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012189:Retrospective Studies