Notable and Quotable : “Physicians, Steel Thyself from Electronic Records, by Anne Marie Valinoti, M.D., Internist, Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2012

Haste maketh Waste.

John Heywood 91497-1550), Proverbs

Haste, haste, has no blessing.

Anonymous, African

October 23, 2012 - When I was a medical student at Duke, the medical intern regularly held “chart rounds,” which went something like this: “The two day old chart presents without a urinalysis, complete blood count, and vital signs.  It is a sick document  and needs a good doctor.” 

I was reminded of the intern’s words when I read this excerpt from a WSJ op-ed today.

Of the EMR, Dr. Vilinoti commented after spending an inordinate amount of time learning to use it, with little time left over for the patient..

“The end product will be lovely: a meticulously organized digital chart, with gorgeous progress notes. Nuggets of data accessible and ready for the plucking by the numbers crunchers.  Medicare says the EMR is going to help me ‘achieve benchmarks that can lead to improved patient care.’”

“Really?  As a colleague remarked, its seems as if this is all about taking care of the chart, as opposed to taking care of the patients.  Documentation is important, but the pointing and clicking and cutting and pasting we are so focused on is demonstrating meaningful use of EMR may getting in the way of meaningful encounters with the patient.”

“With all the data entry the electronic system requires, my laptop presents a barrier between my patient and me, both physiianally and metaphorically.  It’s hard to be both stenographer and empathetic listener at the same time.”

Tweet: Electronic Medical Records: Point and click and cut and paste before the patient is faced  means the patient must be seen in haste.