Abstract

The role of EMRs in medical student education is not clear; their use may help or hinder the educational process. There is no consensus on best practices for the use of EMRs during the clinical education of medical students. All CoM partners are in various stages of EMR adoption. In a survey given to members of UVM CoM class of 2011 (responders n=30/114), students described the amount and level of training as ‘just right’ or ‘could be increased’ (60%), that the ease of EMR use is highly variable, and that EMRs are helpful (72%) but have created barriers for a significant minority of students (23%). Qualitative responses included suggestions that training be conducted by senior medical, that notewriting was a problem, and that faculty could be better. While the survey did not uncover any glaring problems regarding EMR education, it did provide ideas for how to continue improving EMR training during the clerkship years including providing EMR instruction and use privileges (electronic order writing) in a graduated way as well as periodically surveying clerkship students for their feedback on the training and use of these systems. Having comprehensive institutional policies regarding EMR training and use could help resolve these issues.