I’ve been thinking about SmartPhrases recently. For the uninformed, the SmartPhrase is a pre-fabricated bit of clinical language used in EHR documentation. We use SmartPhrases to enter frequently used language. It makes life in front of an EHR (EPIC specifically) easier. The SmartPhrase has evolved as the elemental unit of the electronic health record. These ... Continue Reading about The SmartPhrase as Medicine’s Old Technology
When Doctors Choose a Job Based on the EHR
I recently had lunch with a young doctor new to our community. The conversation wandered on to how she settled on her new position and the EHR was identified as one of her key selection criteria. She heavily favored positions with institutions running EPIC. Interesting, I thought. Because when I took my first job, the brand of manilla folder used in the patient ... Continue Reading about When Doctors Choose a Job Based on the EHR
The EHR and Rage Against the Machine
The EHR is the latest focus of our rage against the machine. Case in point: Chrissy Farr’s poke at the EHR in today’s Fast Company. Red meat for angry old doctors. What might be interesting is to take a bunch of millennial doctors and make them work for a month with clip boards, fax machines, mailed letters and emulsion films on view boxes. Then we could write a ... Continue Reading about The EHR and Rage Against the Machine
My AVS Dilemma
I'm always looking to improve how I use technology. My latest move is to clean up the AVS . The AVS is the after visit summary created by our EHR - it’s an aggregated mashup of meds, recommendations, and clinical goodness. The power of the AVS is in the hands of the provider who shapes smart phrases and customized text for an patient experience that extends beyond the ... Continue Reading about My AVS Dilemma
When Data Meets Doctors
This week while serving on the GI consult service at Texas Children's Hospital I was asked to evaluate a child in the Pediatric Heart Failure ICU. When I walked into the patient's room, I found this: A massive wall-mounted touch screen at the foot of the bed with all of the patient's critical data beautifully displayed. As the cardiac intensivists round, all of the ... Continue Reading about When Data Meets Doctors
Doctors as Victims of Screen Positioning
I had dinner recently with a pediatrician friend who was dinged on a patient experience survey for not having eye contact. Her response was that the computer was in the wrong place. Not her problem, she argued, but rather an issue of clinic space design. Hmm. When technology becomes perfect it will respond to us. Until then, we have to work with our technology and ... Continue Reading about Doctors as Victims of Screen Positioning