Posts tagged as:

emr

How to choose the right electronic health record (EHR) consultant

November 19, 2009

Originally published in HCPLive.com
by Jonathan Bertman, MD
You may have seen advertisements, or may already have been contacted by people who’ve promised to help you figure it all out so you can get your share of the stimulus money. Be wary. The truth is that the Obama administration is still defining many essential elements of the [...]

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A lack of computer skills will make a doctor unemployable

November 18, 2009

How important is it for doctors to have computer skills?
It’s imperative.
Emergency physician Shadowfax is recruiting doctors for his hospital, and balances the typical choices one must make balancing clinical knowledge versus interpersonal skills.
One deal breaker, he notes, is the lack of computer skills:
Unfortunately, in this modern age, if an employee can’t use a computer effectively, [...]

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Implementing an EMR or health IT system is harder than it looks

October 31, 2009

by Bob Wachter, MD
In 2001, when my colleagues and I ranked nearly 100 patient safety practices on the strength of their supporting evidence (for an AHRQ report), healthcare IT didn’t make the top 25. We took a lot of heat for, as one prominent patient safety advocate chided me, “slowing down the momentum.” Some called [...]

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Why doctors should choose Google Android over the iPhone for medical apps

October 20, 2009

by Jeff Brandt
Verizon, Motorola, and Google, along with 9 other cell phone manufactures and countless world carriers, have teamed up to provide a smartphone with the power to deliver useful applications for medicine: the Verizon “Droid” smartphone, based on the Google Android operating system (OS).
The Droid’s processor is the same processor that powers the [...]

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Do electronic medical records increase physician communication of critical test results to patients?

October 2, 2009

Originally posted in Insidermedicine
Advanced electronic systems that alert physicians when outpatients receive critical abnormal test results do not appear to reduce the rate at which these results are overlooked, according to research published in the latest issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Here are some ways you can ensure that abnormal results of medical [...]

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Are iPhones or Blackberrys better for doctors and medical students?

September 22, 2009

by Tom Tharp
A recent Manhattan Research study found that twice as many physicians are using Apple iPhones this year than last, but that BlackBerry is still the most popular smartphone among physicians. The same study found the percentage of physicians in the U.S. using smartphones increased 20 percent from 2008 to 2009.

With more and more [...]

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Data entry in EMRs, and why doctors are slow to adopt information technology

September 17, 2009

by Winslow W. Murdoch, MD
The Obama healthcare plan hinges on savings achieved through the implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs) and pays doctors $44,000 over 5 years for hardware and software to embrace this evolving technology. Let us not forget however, that garbage in produces garbage out, for instance, information not suitable for medical decision [...]

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A personal health record and using the PHR on a mobile smartphone

September 16, 2009

by Jeff Brandt
There is much confusion about Personal Health Record (PHR) in the market today.
PHRs are divided into three groups; Mobile SmartPhone (mPHR), Cloud Apps, and other devices such as USB and Smartcards. Each type of PHR serves a different purpose and provides a useful and needed service. I will speak to the strengths and [...]

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Poll: Is easy patient access to the medical record a good idea?

July 20, 2009

Boston’s Beth Israel-Deaconess Hospital is engaging in a year-long project called OpenNotes, which will look at what happens when patients are given real-time unrestricted access to their medical chart. HIPAA gives patients the legal right to access their medical records, but actually getting them is often a slow, laborious process. This project will give patients [...]

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How much access should patients have to their medical record?

June 25, 2009

As more patient records go electronic, there is debate as to how much of it a patient should see.
This is a particularly sensitive topic, which I touched upon a few months ago, and brings out some contention between patients and their doctors.
Primary care physician Rob Lamberts’ practice is introducing a patient portal, and in this [...]

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Do you miss old-fashioned journals at the medical library?

June 17, 2009

Back in the old days, one had to go deep into the recesses of a medical library, find a dusty, bound old journal, and photocopy the article you wanted.
But those days are over, as pretty much everything is available online.
Although certainly more convenient, Abraham Verghese laments the loss of camaraderie that the digital age of [...]

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AMA: Health information technology help for physicians

June 11, 2009

The following is part of a series of original guest columns by the American Medical Association.
by Joseph M. Heyman, M.D.
Health information technology (HIT) remains a hot button issue for many physicians, and opinions run the gamut. There are physicians and practice managers who are satisfied long-time users and those who question how HIT will benefit [...]

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How an EMR destroyed this practice’s medical records

June 10, 2009

A cautionary tale indeed.
Chris Rangel details the debacle of his institution’s electronic medical record implementation. Apparently, the IT consultants didn’t work well in concert with the EMR technical people, with Dr. Rangel noting a circle of blame between the two parties.
Indeed, the worst-case scenario happened – a catastrophic loss of patient data:
The backup system [...]

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6 top medical comments, May 31st, 2009

May 31, 2009

Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.
1. Dr. Grumpy on the art of medicine and electronic medical records:
I do use an EMR, but patient’s routinely tell me I’m good at listening. I think it’s an individual basis. Some doctors are technophiles, and put that first. That ain’t right. Some doctors [...]

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Will smartphones replace the pager?

May 28, 2009

It seems inevitable.
A recent study showed that 64 percent of doctors use smartphones, such as an iPhone or a BlackBerry. Medical schools, such as Georgetown University and Ohio State University, are beginning to give them out to students.
And I can certainly see the allure. They’re more powerful than PDAs, and there’s a wealth [...]

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Paul Ravetz: Can the art of medicine exist in the computer age?

May 24, 2009

The following is a reader take by Paul Ravetz.
Does the “Art of Medicine” really exist, or perhaps more importantly, can it do so in the computer age?
Computers are both the boon and the bane of medicine. Electronic medical records (EMRs) are excellent for retrieval of information about labs, medications, and past medical history of our [...]

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