I always loved to type. It started in high school with typing class. We were told that typing was critical for college term papers. I liked it so much that I took advanced typing. It was myself and 12 girls with Farrah Fawcett hair. Heaven. Fast forward to 2011. My interface with the medical record is my fingers. Most of my communication flows through my ... Continue Reading about Typing as a Critical Physician Skill
Rage Against the Machine
I was in an elevator at Texas Children's Hospital this weekend where there were a number of people looking at their smart phones. An older gentleman in the elevator remarked shaking his head, "I remember a time when people used to talk." Actually, no one talked in elevators. We've always stood the same direction and stared at the numbers at the top of the ... Continue Reading about Rage Against the Machine
Cut and Paste Medicine
I saw it begin to happen in the '90's. Residents came to rounds with their daily notes produced on a word processor. The notes were impressive. Legible, lengthy and meticulously detailed at first glance. Then I started to notice a pattern. The impressive notes began to look very much alike. The thorough exam varied little from patient to patient. And ... Continue Reading about Cut and Paste Medicine
Transient EPIC Disconnect
I spent the entire 4th of July weekend covering the inpatient GI service at Texas Children's Hospital. Our inpatient medical records were recently transitioned to Epic. I rounded the entire weekend without picking up a pen. Amazing, really. Here's what I've noticed when working with EMRs: I find myself focused on the technology. Pulldowns, data, pasting, ... Continue Reading about Transient EPIC Disconnect
Book Notes: Alone Together
This week I muscled through Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together – Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (Basic Books, 2011/Affiliate link). It explores our increasingly perverse relationship with technology and how it impacts us psychologically. This book falls into what I call the contratech genre, an evolving niche critical of technology's runaway ... Continue Reading about Book Notes: Alone Together