The Journal of the American Dental Association
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The authors conducted a study to investigate the feasibility of having patients enter their health histories, or HHs, directly into a computer so the HHs then can be transferred into computer-based patient records. The authors examined a patient-completed, pen-based computerized HH questionnaire to determine if it is acceptable to patients, if patients answer sensitive questions on the HH questionnaire more forthrightly using a computer than a pen and paper, and if the availability of explanations and examples provided for each question on the computer questionnaire results in more accurate responses than on the paper version. ⋯ Practices can expand the use of computers into more areas of patient care by having patients complete a computerized HH questionnaire. Computerized data capture is more legible, complete and efficient than a paper HH and can be imported directly into clinical data systems, thus avoiding data entry.