Dynamic Comparison of Physicians' Interaction Style with Electronic Health Records in Primary Care Settings

Use of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in Gerontology: Benefits, Considerations and a Promising Future

Electronic medical records (EMRs) have many benefits in clinical research in gerontology, enabling data analysis, development of prognostic tools and disease risk prediction. EMRs also offer a range of advantages in clinical practice, such as comprehensive medical records, streamlined communication with healthcare providers, remote data access, and rapid retrieval of test results, ultimately leading to increased efficiency, enhanced patient safety, and improved quality of care in gerontology, which includes benefits like reduced medication use and better patient history taking and physical examination assessments. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) approaches on EMRs can further improve disease diagnosis, symptom classification, and support clinical decision-making. However, there are also challenges related to data quality, data entry errors, as well as the ethics and safety of using AI in healthcare. This article discusses the future of EMRs in gerontology and the application of AI and ML in clinical research. Ethical and legal issues surrounding data sharing and the need for healthcare professionals to critically evaluate and integrate these technologies are also emphasized. The article concludes by discussing the challenges related to the use of EMRs in research as well as in their primary intended use, the daily clinical practice.

The impact of physician posture during oncology patient encounters

Non-verbal communication is an important component of the physician-patient interaction. Oncology patients face specific emotional and psychological issues requiring additional physician emotional support. Multiple studies in oncology patients have revealed that patients perceive physicians seated during the medical interview to be more compassionate, caring, and likely to spend more time with the patients. These are all associated with improved patient outcomes. Barriers to sitting may be due to those imposed by time, space, and reduced perceived benefit of sitting by the physician. Although a sitting posture alone is unlikely to compensate for poor communication skills, assessing patient preference to physician posture, and following their preference, can be a simple way of improving communication, and thus patient outcomes, especially in oncology patients. The widespread introduction of the electronic medical record (EMR) system over the last decade has added a "third wheel" to the original dyadic physician-patient relationship. Physician posture and eye gaze towards to the EMR and its components has a deleterious effect on communication. Appropriate training and sensitization in this regard should be provided for physicians.