I’ve had rheumatoid arthritis for almost 27 years.  I mention this because I want to make the point that not only am I in the healthcare field, but I am also well-versed in the patient-side tribulations of today’s healthcare environment. 

I have the best rheumatologist EVER– IMHO.  And believe me I’ve seen a vast majority of them in the Atlanta area. About a year ago, he closed down his one-man private practice to join a large group with many contracts with managed care providers.  This group practice is very progressive.  They have a definite web presence and use MedBuddy to offer a lot of value-added services such as online e-mail, refill requests, appointment requests, etc.  They also use EMR.

On my last visit, the doctor came in, asked me the standard “How are you doing?” and sat down at the keyboard and computer screen at the small desk next to the sink and supply cabinet.  He logged in and began asking me a list of questions that were obviously being prompted from the computer.  He then stepped away from the desk, asked me to sit on the exam table and then proceeded with checking my joints.  Then he scurried back to the desk.

He spent the next 7 to 10 minutes typing his findings into the computer.  He verbally called off each of the joints, asked me to raise those joints and then he logged in the ratings for inflammation and tenderness.  He then asked me if I needed a prescription and then scurried off to retrieve the ones I needed from a centralized printer located outside the exam room.

Now, I totally understand all the efficiencies of this system.  I understand that it makes many things about practicing medicine easier and offers some quality benefits–especially around medication errors.

But Geez– this was a miserable experience.  The data prompts on the computer seemed more important than me.  Now, I know this is not the case, this doctor is knowledgable, compassionate, funny and a good doctor.  If I were seeing this doctor for the first time, I’d think he was aloof.  The fact that he needed this computer to guide him through an exam, I’d wonder if he knew what he was doing and I’d probably doubt his skills.  Unless, I knew about the benefits from an administration perspective, I would easily conclude that an EMR only distracted from the care.

I also realize that not every physician has the same level of comfort with EMR and new technologies.  Perhaps the newness of the EMR had my Doc distracted.  Perhaps he did not feel comfortable with it and was secretly dreading the Error message that may pop up if he did not enter the data correctly. 

I’m due to go back to him in a few months.  I wonder if things will be different.  If not, I wonder what could be done for good doctors who are handicapped by EMR implementation.

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