A Kentucky electrophysiologist created a satirical post recently that positioned the EPIC EHR as a computer game. Screenshots of platform were used and he was subsequently forced to remove the images. Wes Fisher caught the story and has the necessary links. While I didn't feel that the original post was nearly as clever as it was provocative and snarky, Wes’ pithy ... Continue Reading about Do Patients Have a Right to Understand the EHR?
When a Doctor’s Note Goes Viral
It's the doctor's note that everyone's reading. A woman in the final stages of cancer made a visit to the New York Presbyterian Hospital ER and subsequently passed away. The patient left such an impression with the treating doctor that this letter of condolence was sent from the doctor to the surviving husband. You can find the original note shared by the woman's ... Continue Reading about When a Doctor’s Note Goes Viral
A Piece of Paper as a Personal Health Record
I live in a world looking for digital solutions to some of health’s biggest problems. I love watching this all play out. So yesterday Seth Godin tells the world that a piece of paper could save your life. He’s advocating that everyone write down their history and carry it around with them. Yes, your personal health record on a piece of 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper. ... Continue Reading about A Piece of Paper as a Personal Health Record
Doctors, Patients, Old and New
There’s this tension that I pick up on when I talk with patients. It’s the fantasy of the new and the old. It’s the fantasy of the physician encounter where a doctor will look at us and never to a screen. We insist on all of the affordances of the digital age with the human connection of a time gone by. We want an intensely human connection but we want ... Continue Reading about Doctors, Patients, Old and New
The Information Show of Force
Sometime around 1998 in the Texas Medical Center. DrV: (enters exam room) Hey, How are you? I'm Bryan Vartabedian (extends hand). Father: (arms crossed, smiling, leaning against wall) Oh I know who you are, Doc. And I know where you went to school, where you've lived, if you’ve been sued and a few other things. And I'm fine, by the way. DrV: Um, Okay. (Shakes ... Continue Reading about The Information Show of Force
The Disconnect
It’s the age of medical disconnect. The disconnect describes the emotional and intellectual detachment that physicians feel from their patients and patients from their doctors. This disconnect is the result of a confluence of factors, some from within the profession itself, others are more broadly social and economic. To understand the disconnect you need look ... Continue Reading about The Disconnect