Evaluation of electronic health records from viewpoint of patients

Objective: To clarify the impacts of electronic health records (EHRs) on patients, especially patient's satisfaction by using questionnaire. Design: Surveys were conducted at three hospitals. One of them was surveyed three times; three-months before (pre-EHR) and three-months after (post-3mo EHR) and nine-months after implementation of EHR (post-9mo EHR). The other two hospitals (metropolitan-stable EHR and suburban-stable EHR) spent more than three years after implementation. Thus there were five stages of EHR. Measurements: Comparisons were made among these five stages. Results: The longer EHR has been operating, the more patients answered waiting time shortened. The patients in pre-EHR (73%) expected the benefit of cooperation between hospitals and clinics using EHR more. The longer experience of EHR a hospital had, the more patients were explained by watching the screen. Although overall satisfaction was high, there was no difference among the stages except metropolitan-stable EHR. Conclusion: Main benefits of EHR are reducing patient's waiting time, and enhancing explanation to patients. However it does not have significant effects to improve patient's satisfaction.