The Electronic Health Record: Can it enhance teaching in the primary care setting?

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) has established programs to provide incentive payments for healthcare practices that have adopted an electronic health record (EHR) and have met criteria for “meaningful use” of their EHR system.  By 2015, healthcare practices that have not implement an EHR or have not met “meaningful use” criteria will face monetary penalties.  Healthcare practices will be adopting the EHR in the upcoming years to avoid these penalties.  Many of these practices have providers that also serve as preceptors to students.  The student learning experience requires hands on patient care with that preceptor.  In order to be fully immersed into the clinical setting, the student will have to become familiar with the EHR system and its functionality.  The provider will also be required to incorporate the use of the EHR into the students learning experience.  This will change the preceptor/student experience.  Often, preceptors miss opportunities to use the EHR as a teaching tool to facilitate learning experiences.  Preceptors also face the challenge of becoming proficient in using the EHR and at the same time providing quality clinical experiences for their students.  The overall objective of the presentation will be to address the barriers that preceptors face when incorporating an EHR into the student learning experience.  Additionally, discussion will include identifying strategies to overcome these barriers to maximize student learning experiences and at the same time provide safe quality care in a timely manner.