Is your doctor getting too much screen time?

You may have noticed it isn't just you and the doctor in the exam room anymore. Computers, laptops and tablets are increasingly occupying your physician's attention as more medical practices record their patients' data electronically rather than on paper. This has changed the dynamics between some doctors and patients and created new communication challenges, research shows. A study in JAMA Internal Medicine in November found that patients rated the care they received lower when doctors looked at a computer screen a lot during patient examinations. And researchers at Northwestern University discovered that doctors using electronic health records spent about a third of patient visits looking at a screen. [Subscription Required]