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. 2014 Feb;15(1):35-40.
doi: 10.5811/westjem.2013.2.11498.

Patient impression and satisfaction of a self-administered, automated medical history-taking device in the Emergency Department

Sanjay Arora  1 , Andrew D Goldberg  1 , Michael Menchine  1
Affiliations

Patient impression and satisfaction of a self-administered, automated medical history-taking device in the Emergency Department

Sanjay Arora et al. West J Emerg Med. 2014 Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: We evaluated patient impressions and satisfaction of an innovative self-administered, hand-held touch-screen tablet to gather detailed medical information from emergency department (ED) patients in the waiting room prior to physician contact.

Methods: Adult, medically stable patients presenting to the ED at Los Angeles County Hospital used the PatientTouch™ system to answer a series of questions about their current history of present illness and past medical/surgical histories in English or Spanish. Patients then completed a survey rating their experience.

Results: Among 173 participants, opinion of PatientTouch™ was strongly positive; 93.6% (95%CI 90.0-97.3%) felt the physical product was easy to hold and handle, and 97.1% (94.6-99.6%) felt the questions were detailed enough for them to fully describe their condition; 97.8% (95.4-100.0%) felt using PatientTouch™ would help them organize their thoughts and communicate better with their physician, 94.8% (91.4-98.1%) thought it would improve the quality of their care, and 97.1% (94.6-99.6%) expressed desire to use the product again in the future.

Conclusion: The study was conducted at a largely Hispanic county ED, and only patients with 1 of 6 pre-determined chief complaints participated. We did not include a control group to assess if perceived improvements in communication translated to measurable differences. In this pilot study, patients were highly satisfied with all aspects of the PatientTouch™ self-administered, hand-held, touch-screen tablet. Importantly, subjects felt it would help them better communicate with their doctor, would improve their overall quality of care and overwhelmingly expressed a desire to use it in the future.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. Human Touch provided the equipment and personnel to conduct the study at no charge but had no role in the design of the study. They also had no role in management, analysis or interpretation of the data, not the preparation, review or approval of the manuscript. Dr. Goldberg has no disclosures.

Figures

Figure.
Figure.
Screenshot of PatientTouch™, a handheld self-administered history-taking device.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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