Bad News for Electronic Medical Records
The percentage of doctors saying that the financial benefits of electronic records outweigh the costs fell to 64% from 71% last year. And the percentage saying the patient-care benefits justified the financial investment fell to 68% from 73%. This year’s survey also found doctors were less likely to agree that electronic records can help reduce medical errors, improve efficiency and lower costs. And a greater proportion of physicians said electronic records slow them down and don’t achieve a measurable financial impact.
Full article on doctors’ views of electronic medical records.
My mechanic keeps my truck’s “medical records” on a computer. He can scan a barcode inside the door to show me the last time the oil was changed, how long until the timing belt needs to be replaced, and all the manufacturer’s service recommendations.
One would hope that your average doctor would see the value of computers as much as your average car mechanic.
Another panacea turns out to be a Pandora’s box.
Well put, Joe. No magic bullet there.
This is consistent with what I hear from doctors who are trying to use them.
Again, I think people have been oversold on these. Will a drop menu cut down on transcription errors, without a doubt, will it prevent someone from pick the wrong item, no. The same is true of paper system with check boxes. All these “problems” that I see mentioned would be “problems” in a paper system, a paper system does not make them go away. will these systems be a panacea – no, do they have some benefits – yes (always at the back end – paper or electronic – you STILL have to enter the CORRECT data and that takes time). Will a front line doctor see much benefit, probably not – just ask a lab tech in hospital lab how they like their LIS/LIMS or could they do the work faster with paper. Would a doctor using that data find the paper as convenient as the LIS?
More Luddite nonsense. So, the front office has to spend a tiny amount of extra time. In exchange, you eventually get rid of a back office that been resistant to the past 30 years of productivity increases. The Taiwan health care system is completely smart card based and a nary a paper record can be found. I guess the Chinese are just smarter,
Our hospital is implementing Electronic Medical Records and it is not going well!
See this report:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NleWPN6CADE