Afterward, the "patients" offered valuable feedback. One was irritated that her would-be doctor got stuck e-prescribing and, her mind on the computer, kept repeating the same question rather than saying, "Give me a minute."
Down the hall, actor John Askew Sr. praised Shumer's bedside manner but explained the computer screen was too far away for him to see.
"If you said, 'Can you see?' I would have felt less disengaged," said Askew, from Washington's Maryland suburbs.
The students see the value of electronic health records but also how easy it is to be distracted with all the clicking and scrolling.
"When I have the computer, I may be less personable, but my notes are more thorough," Shumer, of Farmington Hills, Mich., told his professor. "It's easier to have a relationship when the computer is not there."
Hopefully, the systems will get less clunky, WinklerPrins responded: "We don't lose, in the meantime, the focus on the patient."
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EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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