When Disclosing Sensitive Info, Patients Prefer App vs Staff: Study
Patients using a tablet-based app were more than twice as likely to disclose depression, intimate partner violence, and fall risk compared with verbal screenings, according to a new study.
Researchers studied the use of the app at six primary care practices among patients age 18 years or older. The app, which exists on a tablet that’s given to patients at check-in, includes screening questions for depression, intimate partner violence, and fall risk that would otherwise be asked verbally by nurses. The results of the questionnaires are transmitted to a practice’s EHR.
“To put [the study results] in context, for every 10 patients who walked in the door, our app found one additional person with concerns that would have been missed.”