I was in the Electronic Medical Records business in ‘96, and then with an Eli Lilly subsidiary that focused on the same.......
A good friend/good doc says EMR has killed his and all the docs he knows efficiency by at least 30%.
And there’s not going to be a doc shortage from this?
My medical group (for 40 years) sold itself to a local medical center a few years ago. Now, last March 30th they “rolled out” their latest EMR implementation. I had occasion to visit my PCP last week. I had to wait an hour and a half beyond the scheduled appointment time, the reason, the harried physician told me was “computer problems.” And it’s been that way almost from the inception of EMRs. He has little time to go over what’s ailing me because he’s busy pounding away on the fancy terminal that’s been placed in each examining room. Doctors have become record keepers, this system is a government nightmare.
Electronic records of any kind are as secure as IRS e-Mails.
What could possibly go wrong?
It's about the feral government having everything about everybody in a central database in the event that they need to find something to use against somebody.
My observations regarding EMRs are negative. If you need a blood transfusion, I hope you don’t need it in a hurry. They have to input so much stuff into the computer before they can hook it up. And you better hope the system isn’t down or slow. Whew. There are a lot of safeguards built in to make sure no one screw anything up. It is time consuming. If you are transferred from one facility to another, you better hope the people on the receiving end of your care are extremely competent and fast at writing and entering new orders into their system. Then you better hope the nurse giving your meds doesn’t spill your meds. Because the computer will not allow a second set of meds to be delivered from the hospital pharmacy. Our son went from receiving around the clock pain meds and feedings to being given NOTHING for 18 hours due to this medical records system and his nurse spilling his narcotics. Hubby was soooo angry that he was spitting needles at the doctors when they made rounds the next day.
And I forget my other observations. Our previous pediatrician told me she would never switch to electronic records because she saw the downside of them. She is a very liberal physician, but her first and foremost concern is for her patients and giving them the best care available. I sure miss her.
bump
d’uh