Background: There is limited information on the impact of widespread adoption of the electronic health record (EHR) on graduate medical education (GME).
Objective: To identify areas of consensus by education experts, where the use of EHR impacts GME, with the goal of developing strategies and tools to enhance GME teaching and learning in the EHR environment.
Methods: Information was solicited from experienced US physician educators who use EPIC EHR following 3 steps: 2 rounds of online surveys using the Delphi technique, followed by telephone interviews. The survey contained 3 stem questions and 52 items with Likert-scale responses. Consensus was defined by predetermined cutoffs. A second survey reassessed items for which consensus was not initially achieved. Common themes to improve GME in settings with an EHR were compiled from the telephone interviews.
Results: The panel included 19 physicians in 15 states in Round 1, 12 in Round 2, and 10 for the interviews. Ten items were found important for teaching and learning: balancing focus on EHR documentation with patient engagement achieved 100% consensus. Other items achieving consensus included adequate learning time, balancing EHR data with verbal history and physical examination, communicating clinical thought processes, hands-on EHR practice, minimizing data repetition, and development of shortcuts and templates. Teaching strategies incorporating both online software and face-to-face solutions were identified during the interviews.
Conclusions: New strategies are needed for effective teaching and learning of residents and fellows, capitalizing on the potential of the EHR, while minimizing any unintended negative impact on medical education.