Electronic Health Record Documentation Patterns of Recorded Primary Care Visits Focused on Complex Communication: A Qualitative Study.

Background: In a time-constrained clinical environment, physicians cannot feasibly document all aspects of an office visit in the electronic health record (EHR). This is especially true for patients with multiple chronic conditions requiring complex clinical reasoning. It is unclear how physicians prioritize the documentation of health information in the EHR.

Testing of a tethered personal health record framework for early end-of-life discussions.

Objectives: The process of planning for end-of life decisions, also known as advance care planning (ACP), is associated with numerous positive outcomes, including improved patient satisfaction with care and improved patient quality of life in terminal illness. In this study, we sought to test a novel personal health record (PHR)-delivered ACP framework through a small-scale randomized trial of usual care practices versus PHR-delivered ACP.

Study Design: Randomized controlled pilot intervention.

Development of a tethered personal health record framework for early end-of-life discussions.

Objectives: End-of-life planning, known as advance care planning (ACP), is associated with numerous positive outcomes, such as improved patient satisfaction with care and improved patient quality of life in terminal illness. However, patient-provider ACP conversations are rarely performed or documented due to a number of barriers, including time required, perceived lack of skill, and a limited number of resources. Use of tethered personal health records (PHRs) may help streamline ACP conversations and documentations for outpatient workflows.

Engaging death: Narrative and constructed dialogue in Advance Care Planning discussions.

Advance Care Planning (ACP) remains extremely low in the US, due to numerous institutional and cultural barriers and discomfort in discussing death. There is a need for guidance about how patient and healthcare providers can effectively engage in ACP discussion. Here we analyze the linguistic strategies that focus-group participants use when discussing ACP in detailed ways.