I don’t know much about health IT and I know less about meaningful use. So when Meaningful Use and Beyond - A Guide for IT Staff in Health Care (O'Reilly Media) by Fred Trotter and David Uhlman was released last month I bit the bullet and dove in. I looked at this book as my personal crash course in a subject area I had been avoiding over the past months. This was ... Continue Reading about Book Notes: Meaningful Use and Beyond
Typing as a Critical Physician Skill
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
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