This appeared a few days ago.
IHI 2016: EMRs 'a 4,000-click-a-day problem,' says Verghese
Dec 7, 2016 12:13am
ORLANDO, Fla.–Technology has advanced medicine in many ways, but it has also led physicians to focus more on data than patients, said best-selling author Abraham Verghese, M.D.Verghese, the keynote speaker Tuesday at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 28th annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Healthcare in Orlando, Florida, said physicians’ attention has been diverted and patients suffer as a result.
Patients don’t like it when doctors break eye contact with them, said Verghese, senior associate chair, Stanford University School of Medicine. They want to feel like their doctors are paying attention to them.
But instead physicians are focused on the prompts within the electronic medical record. He said in a course of a shift it can take 16 clicks to order baby aspirin and 140 clicks to admit a patient for chest pain. It is a “4,000 click-a-day problem,” he said. And this lack of interaction with patients is causing resentment. "For every hour with patients, doctors are spending two hours on the computer … This has to change," said Verghese. "The EMR of today is a mistake of epic proportions.”
More here:
I really have nothing to add. We need to get the click count down safely during daily Digital Health use.
David.
5 comments:
Isn't perception important? I recently presented with a sinus infection. Wife (sorry, that's 'partner' now) presented with the same problem. We saw different doctors in the same surgery.
My doctor dipped into his 4,000 with vigour and prescribed 2 medicines..........partner was described a single different med.
Thanks for the clicks, doctor, for I recovered in record time, whereas 'partner' laboured on for another week or so.
Not sure I get the point, your scenario seems more to do with differences in people, neither doctors nor partners are machines (yet)
The point being; to demonise 4,000 clicks by insinuating maintaining eye contact by the clinician is more important than wholesale 'clicking' is denying the clinician the opportunity to provide better care, whether that be by maintaining or building an EHR or sourcing a better medicine to prescribe.
The simple answer is for the clinician to explain the clicking whilst clicking. Not hard.
However, I acknowledge the problem of clinicians being asked to build an EHR without remuneration, which has to be addressed before such clicking has value.
Thanks perhaps more attention is needed in understanding how technology is influencing anthroposemiotics.
It would appear that many people involved in health management view IT as a means of control and monitoring rather than a tool to make physicians job easier and give them fast access to information. This is why in the real world of private medicine most systems that succeed have been started by people who are doctors and the systems conceived by bureaucrats are useless, clunky and actually do little for patient care and are in reality only used in order to obtain PIP payments!
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