Funding Source
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Project Period: December 2015 - June 2019

Other Project Staff
Dartmouth College: Michelle D. Dannenberg MPH, Craig Ganoe MS, Elizabeth Carpenter-Song PhD, William Haslett PhD, Rebecca Faill, Amar Das MD PhD, Glyn Elwyn MD PhD; Patient Partners: Roger Arend, Sheri Piper

Project Summary
Despite the emergence and availability of multiple sources of medical information, information provided by clinicians remains patients’ most trusted resource. With the ubiquity of smartphones that enable easy, high quality recording and playback, patients and clinicians are beginning to record clinic visits for patients’ personal use. In our recent survey in the U.S., 28% (129/456) of clinicians reported that they had recorded a clinic visit for a patient’s personal use, and a handful of clinics are now offering patients recordings of office visits. The emergence of clinics that offer recordings routinely will provide an opportunity to study for the first time the natural adoption of recording beyond their use in research projects. The aim of this case study is to develop a rich understanding of three clinics pioneering the use of visit recording in routine care and the experience of patients, clinicians and caregivers. We will adopt a multiple case study design, visiting three clinics - a primary care clinic, and a cancer center that share audio recordings, and a neurology clinic that shares video recordings. Embedded in each case (clinic) are clinicians, patients and their families, clinic management and administrators. Interviewees will be 18-years-or-older and able to communicate in English. Major themes (e.g., motivations, concerns, facilitators, barriers) will be identified through framework analysis; three coders will independently review transcripts from each site, with 20% of transcripts double checked by a second coder. Each key stage of analysis is to be reviewed by an independent medical anthropologist (ECS).