Poignant Op-Ed piece in the NY Times a week ago titled “The Computer Will See You Now.”
Comments to the editorial seem to feel the same way as the author.
Apparently, medicine isn’t adopting the computerized record as quickly as everyone would like.
Will care be better when we do so? I’m not so sure.
Interesting that there was another Op-Ed piece by the exact same title written in 2005 by a different author … noting how the computer is depersonalizing medicine.
Having the dubious honor of fielding compliments and complaints about care at our medical center, I have yet to have a patient report that “they are glad that we have an EMR”. I do have hundreds of complaints that “the nurses pay more attention to the computers than the patients”, that “the nurses can never be found because they are always on the computers” and the best “I hope your f++++ computer is ok because I am dying here!”
What will JCAHO do when they swab the computer keyboards and find bacterial farms growing on and under the keys?
If a patient sneezes near a keyboard do you throw it out? Wait until it is sanitized before continuing to use it? Wear disposable surgical gloves when typing, then discard?
How do you disinfect a keyboard? Dip it in alcohol? Is a wipe enough?
Do you think UV lights positioned over each keyboard would solve the problem?
Will the doctors, nurses, and patients then need to wear wraparound UV rated glasses to protect themselves from the lights?
Am I joking, or is this real?
I am a hospice nurse who is expected to document each patient visit while in the home. We do our documentation on computers…
I stopped documenting in the home (for the most part) when patients started apologizing for keeping me from my work.
I forget, wasn’t I supposed to focus on the patient’s needs during visits to his/her home?
The depersonalization of medicine will be worth it. Time to grow up doctors! This is not about having fun at the office; this is about saving people’s lives. Get to it!
To Jim,
I can’t tell if you are being sarcastic. If not, do you look forward to medical care delivered under a system similar to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles?
Do you think WhiteCoat has to “grow up”? I don’t.
This is a very interesting post onIT and health care joining together for maximum efficiency. I still believe that our private info should not be transferred digitally, only stored digitally and not connected to the web in anyway.