FRIDAY, June 17, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Do computers belong in your doctor's examination room, along with tongue depressors and blood-pressure cuffs?
Maybe so: A new study suggests PCs can help improve the doctor-patient relationship.
In a small survey, researchers with the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan found patients preferred the office visit experience after computers were installed.
"They felt like they were getting better care, that they were more involved and understood what was happening," said study author Dr. John Hsu, a scientist with Kaiser Permanente's research division in Oakland, Calif. "The patients seemed to appreciate having the computers there."
In most doctor's offices across the United States, patients aren't likely to see a computer in the exam room. But Kaiser Permanente has now placed computers in its exam rooms in the Northwest and Colorado, Hsu said, and plans to make them routine across the country.
The PCs allow doctors to get immediate access to medical records and test results instead of relying on paper records that aren't always fully updated, Hsu said. They also allow doctors to plot data -- for example, a person's blood pressure over time -- on one screen.
In the study, Hsu and colleagues surveyed 313 patients who visited eight physicians in the Northwest in 2001 and 2002. All the doctors and patients were volunteers.
The patients filled out questionnaires three times: once before computers were installed, once again a month after installation, and then one last time at seven months post-installation.
The findings appear in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
After the computers were installed, the percentage of patients who reported excellent overall satisfaction grew from 55 percent to 63 percent, while the percentage of those who said they had "excellent understanding of their treatments" rose from 46 percent to 57 percent.
According to Hsu, the survey didn't reveal any negative repercussions to installing computers. However, one specialist in medical technology cautioned the study may not present the full picture.
"The eight physicians in the study volunteered from out of a group of 17, and we must wonder if they are the most confident and proficient at the technology," said Valerie Stewart, a researcher with the Providence Health System's Center for Outcomes Research and Education in Portland, Ore.
It could be that less computer-savvy doctors might not receive such good feedback from patients, she added.
Also, Stewart said, it's not clear from the study how many patients declined to participate in the study and why they didn't take part.
While the results are promising, more research needs to be done to understand the pros and cons of computers in the exam room, she concluded.
More information:
Learn more about Kaiser Permanente's experiences with computers in the exam room here.
