Hi, this is Dr. Blake and I need to express my thoughts on the electronic medical records that I was forced to adapt in February of this year. I do not want your sympathy, but it has added an extra day to my practice per week just trying to keep up. I spend the same amount of time with my patients which I know many doctors are forced to see patients faster. But, my tradeoff is longer and longer time doing my records, and I feel I am very dedicated to doing them right. This article at least shows that I am not alone. I see patients for 40 hours per week (around 40 or so) and spend 13-14 hours doing their chart work on the electronic medical records. Since all medical practices have 2 hours a day or normal paperwork also (insurance, DMV, disability, etc), this now puts me at 65 hours per week of normal routine stuff. I like to do my own orthotic work, work on my blog, read to learn, etc, and how I am at 75-80 hours without blinking an eye.
Why am I telling you this? Just be kind to all the docs in the country that this has been forced on. The 3 hours a day additional work brought on by the computer is handled differently by all: less patient time with less satisfaction, fewer patients overall with less satisfaction, working longer hours with less satisfaction with less time with your loved ones, total burnout, leaving the medical career, or a combination of strategies. I tend to work harder and longer because that is what I have always done, but it is not healthy, and I am not getting younger. I think the younger docs, that do not know any different, may not be as grumpy as I feel. If you pray, I accept all donations in this sphere. Thanks for listening.
EMR are here to stay Dr. Blake, the problem is not the EMR but that the systems are being created by people who are clueless about the flow of medical practice.
ReplyDeleteLook at Amazon for an example of how information is well managed and tracked. Orders for products are streamlined, complete, confirmed, tracking exists, returns are seamless. The manage 100's of thousands of orders.
Do you remember how insurance forms were sent in before Medi-care create the HCFA 1500 form. Medicare said they would not accept any other form to submit and by golly we all stepped inline.
And then all other insurance companies figured if the form was good for Medicare, they would all use it too so now all insurance submission forms are modeled after the HCFA one.
Put pressure on companies to create better EMRs. I'm sorry it is so time consuming right now taking time from your patients. Good luck.
Dr. Blake,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about your struggles with EMRs. I am a consultant for an EMR company so I work face-to-face with doctors in clinics every day as we work on their EMR systems. I have seen plenty of frustration... but there are good days, too. I hope more good days are in your future. :)
Thanks again for all the work you've done on this blog. The world needs more people like you.
You need an administrative assistant
ReplyDelete