Patient reactions to doctors' computer use in general practice consultations

This paper describes an experimental field study of patient reactions to computer use by doctors during general practice consultations. The computer system offered facilities for the review of medical histories and the entry of individual encounter notes. Questionnaire assessments of patient reactions were obtained from 127 patients who had just consulted a doctor who was using the computer and from 216 control patients for whom conventional procedures had been retained. Contrary to many doctors' concerns no overall negative effects were recorded for patient reactions. There were no differences between the experimental and control conditions with respect to patients' perceptions of the doctors' attentiveness and rapport, patients' satisfaction with information received, their confidence in the treatment received, their expected compliance or post-consultation stress. A relation was however apparent between post-consultation stress and attitudes to the idea of doctors using computers in the consulting room, in which unfavourable attitudes were associated with reports of higher stress, and conversely. The results suggest that patient reactions to the consultation are more affected by which doctor they see than by whether or not the doctor is using a computer. However, the findings relate to only a short period of computer use in an experimental context and the effects of more established computer use remain a matter for further enquiry.