Re:U.S. workers have gotten way less productive. No one is s...
by analog31 on Monday October 31, 2022 @06:22PM
(#33414145)
I've never seen the same doctor twice in a row.
What I've noticed is that EMR has greatly reduced the amounts of screw-ups or delays caused by not having the right information at hand, or having to repeat tests. Also, since there's now a terminal in every examining room, I can see what amount of effort is required to use the EMR tool (Epic in the case of my provider), and it doesn't seem all that onerous. I can guesstimate the additional amount of time that they spend outside of clinic hours, completing their records for the day, and again, it doesn't seem onerous.
For a few years I had to fill out a lengthy medical history form, every time I visited a clinic, but that's pretty much gone today. My primary care doctor just retired, and her replacement took up the baton without skipping a beat. She can also easily delegate to her physician's assistant or nurse practitioner, so they can all work as a team, with instant access to the same information.
Now I have noticed something interesting. The urgent and primary care clinics all have a terminal in every examining room, and the clinicians perform their examinations while seated at the terminal, except when they actually have to poke around. That's where it seems quite efficient.
In the hospital wards, they still don't have a terminal in each room, meaning that each clinician has to look things up at centralized terminals, remember them (or not), and has no access to information. If they need some information, they will come back with it, next time their make their rounds, which might be the next day. And they screw up. My dad had an episode that took him through an ER, to a regular hospital bed for a few days, then to a rehab ward. I had all of his records at my fingertips thanks to MyChart on my laptop. The doctors and nurses were lost, they completely overlooked the documented diagnosis that was at the root of is condition, and didn't believe me about it.
Some of the nurses in the hospitals now have a terminal on a wheeled cart, that they bring on their rounds.
What I'm guessing is that in the days of handwritten records, the doctors were mostly winging it.
What I've noticed is that EMR has greatly reduced the amounts of screw-ups or delays caused by not having the right information at hand, or having to repeat tests. Also, since there's now a terminal in every examining room, I can see what amount of effort is required to use the EMR tool (Epic in the case of my provider), and it doesn't seem all that onerous. I can guesstimate the additional amount of time that they spend outside of clinic hours, completing their records for the day, and again, it doesn't seem onerous.
For a few years I had to fill out a lengthy medical history form, every time I visited a clinic, but that's pretty much gone today. My primary care doctor just retired, and her replacement took up the baton without skipping a beat. She can also easily delegate to her physician's assistant or nurse practitioner, so they can all work as a team, with instant access to the same information.
Now I have noticed something interesting. The urgent and primary care clinics all have a terminal in every examining room, and the clinicians perform their examinations while seated at the terminal, except when they actually have to poke around. That's where it seems quite efficient.
In the hospital wards, they still don't have a terminal in each room, meaning that each clinician has to look things up at centralized terminals, remember them (or not), and has no access to information. If they need some information, they will come back with it, next time their make their rounds, which might be the next day. And they screw up. My dad had an episode that took him through an ER, to a regular hospital bed for a few days, then to a rehab ward. I had all of his records at my fingertips thanks to MyChart on my laptop. The doctors and nurses were lost, they completely overlooked the documented diagnosis that was at the root of is condition, and didn't believe me about it.
Some of the nurses in the hospitals now have a terminal on a wheeled cart, that they bring on their rounds.
What I'm guessing is that in the days of handwritten records, the doctors were mostly winging it.