The American Academy of Family Physicians has put out a very good primer on using electronic medical records (EMRs) to provide patient-centric care. There are a few tips to remember:
- Invest in a mobile monitor, be it a flat screen on a movable arm, a tablet PC or good old fashioned laptop.
- Use Google.
- Learn when to push the computer screen away and focus on the patient.
- Tell your patients what you are doing as you are doing it.
- Try to encourage patient participation in the process.
- Consider having staff handle routine data entry either before or after the patient encounter.
- see this article from the American Academy of Family Physicians (.pdf)