Abstract
The use of electronic health records (EHRs) in clinical environments to manage patient care is changing clinical practice; however, the explicit teaching of EHR-related skills to trainee clinicians is often lacking in medical curricula. The novelty of EHR-related skills training means there is little evidence on what is considered best practice: it is currently unclear which methods or tools are most effective. In this chapter, the authors present findings from a mixed methods study with thirty-four undergraduate medical students on clinical placement. The study had two major aims: (1) to investigate the effectiveness of a student-centered EHR system as a tool for learning EHR-related skills; and (2) to explore students’ perceptions and use in the hospital environment of the EHR system implemented on mobile devices. Findings from student interviews showed that the EHR system supported the learning of EHR skills by: scaffolding patient interviews; providing a means of managing information gathered from multiple patients; providing opportunities to practise EHR skills; and raising awareness of the potential benefits of EHRs for patient care. Learning benefits of the system that extended beyond EHR skills were also identified. Regarding the use of the mobile EHR system, electronic monitoring data showed that students infrequently created patient records in hospital locations. Network connectivity issues, concerns that mobile devices were not easy to carry around, and concerns that mobile devices would negatively impact patient interactions, were identified as potential barriers to the adoption and use by students of the mobile EHR system in the clinical environment.
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Elliott, K., Judd, T., McColl, G. (2016). Utilising Mobile Electronic Health Records in Clinical Education. In: Bridges, S., Chan, L., Hmelo-Silver, C. (eds) Educational Technologies in Medical and Health Sciences Education. Advances in Medical Education, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08275-2_9
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