Article Figures & Data
Tables
- Table 1.
Description of the Study Sample of Patients Who Completed the Portable Digital Assistant Survey (n = 264)
Type of Site n (%) Community-based 68 (24) Family medicine residency 189 (67) Underserved 27 (10) Patients’ sex Male 63 (22) Female 221 (78) Patients’ race White 216 (76) Black 65 (23) Other 3 (1) Patients’ age (years) Mean 44.3 SD 17.0 Range 18–88 Patients’ insurance status Private only 89 (31) Medicaid only 74 (26) Free/self pay/sliding scale 64 (23) Medicare only 25 (9) Medicare/private 17 (6) Medicaid/Medicare 15 (5) Patients’ highest level of education (years) 0–8 8 (3) 9–11 23 (8) High school graduate 91 (32) Technical school graduate 22 (8) 13–14 86 (30) 15–16 42 (15) 17–18 12 (4) Physicians’ sex Male 206 (73) Female 78 (27) Patient-physician gender pair Female patient/male physician 152 (54) Female patient/female physician 69 (24) Male patient/male physician 54 (19) Male patient/female physician 9 (3) Response Options N (%) Mean (SD) How surprised were you that your doctor used a PDA? (N = 284) 1 = Extremely surprised 4 (1) 4.2 (1.1) 2 = Very surprised 18 (6) 3 = No effect 63 (22) 4 = A little surprised 43 (15) 5 = Not surprised at all 156 (55) How did the PDA affect your confidence in your doctor? (n = 282) 1 = Much less confidence 4 (1) 3.5 (0.9) 2 = A little less confident 9 (3) 3 = No change in confidence 178 (63) 4 = A little more confident 36 (13) 5 = Much more confident 55 (20) How did the PDA make you feel about your doctor? (n = 283) 1 = Many more bad feelings 0 (0) 3.6 (0.8) 2 = Some bad feelings 4 (1) 3 = No change in feelings 171 (60) 4 = Some good feelings 51 (18) 5 = Many more good feelings 57 (20) How comfortable were you with your doctor using a PDA? (n = 283) 1 = Much less comfortable 2 (1) 3.5 (0.9) 2 = Somewhat less comfortable 7 (2) 3 = No change in comfort 171 (60) 4 = Somewhat more comfortable 45 (16) 5 = Much more comfortable 58 (20) How did the PDA affect your communication with your doctor? (N = 284) 1 = Much worse 0 (0) 3.4 (0.7) 2 = Somewhat worse 7 (2) 3 = No effect 206 (73) 4 = Somewhat better 35 (12) 5 = Much better 36 (13) How did the PDA change your relationship with your doctor? (N = 284) 1 = Much less personal 0 (0) 3.2 (0.6) 2 = Somewhat less personal 10 (4) 3 = No change 237 (83) 4 = Somewhat more personal 19 (7) 5 = Much more personal 18 (6) How smart do you think your doctor is because he/she used a PDA? (N = 284) 1 = Much less smart 0 (0) 3.5 (0.8) 2 = Somewhat less smart 5 (2) 3 = No change 171 (60) 4 = Somewhat more smart 60 (21) 5 = Much more smart 48 (17) How did the PDA affect your satisfaction with the visit? (N = 284) 1 = Much less satisfied 0 (0) 3.4 (0.8) 2 = Somewhat less satisfied 5 (2) 3 = No effect 190 (67) 4 = Somewhat more satisfied 49 (17) 5 = Much more satisfied 40 (14) PDA, personal digital assistant.
- Table 3.
Predictors of Physician Explanation of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Use, Controlling for Patient Demographics (Logistic Regression Model)
Variable Odds Ratio (95% CI) Patient sex 1.355 (0.695, 2.643) Patient race 1.725 (0.888, 3.352) Patient age 0.988 (0.971, 1.006) Male physician 1.875 (1.013, 3.470) Private site 3.167 (1.519, 6.604) Underserved site 3.522 (1.258, 9.861) Medicaid 2.543 (1.206, 5.362) Patients who observed PDA use* 2.238 (1.237, 4.046) Communication 2.187 (1.345, 3.487) * Patients who observed physician PDA use both during the index visit and at least one previous visit.
