A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Are doctors Really seeing more patients because of EMR?? - Alice

Posted: Oct 31, 2014

Too broke to see a doctor in several years I finally saw one today and got to witness the "benefits" of EMR. The new patient documents were scanned into the doctor's laptop. The software was not able to translate handwriting, so all that was a waste. Basically the doctor had to go over every question and missed many that did not scan. The only hands-on he did was to look in ears & throat. Everything else he was glued to the laptop trying to type in everything I said. I expect new patient visits to take longer than usual, but I only needed Rx's refilled. This took 75 minutes! Close to 90% of the visit the doctor was typing into his laptop and I had to spell some of the meds for him. If he could have had a transcriptionist, he could have gotten through this visit in less than half the time and double the patient he can see each day! Is it really saving them money and time??

So impersonal - when

[ In Reply To ..]
my doctor is explaining the 'plan' all the while looking at her laptop screen and speaking as slow as she is typing.

It's especially impersonal because she types/says "she" and "her" while I'm sitting right there!

Impersonal and dangerous... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
At a recent office visit, MD asked what meds I needed refilled. I said sertraline and trazodone. He asked how long I've been on the medications. I said, "Probably like 15 years." He says okay...and proceeds to electronically send a TRAMADOL Rx to my pharmacy!

The pharmacist spent 30 minutes with my poor husband, who picked up the Rx, explaining why I probably shouldn't be on Tramadol.

I called the MD's office and explained what had happened...receptionist said, "Oh, that's not good."

YA THINK?!

That is not the fault of the EMR - Blame the doctor, please

[ In Reply To ..]
Please stop blaming EMRs for your doctors' rudeness and/or incompetency.

dangerous - iamnotblind

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Recently changed to a doc who is locked to his black box. He taps away. Each time I have been given the wrong amount of tabs per day for one thyroid med, which I point out to secretary, and he scribbles on hard copy but does not change it in his black box. So I just mention it each time. Good for me I am an MT on top of these things, most people do not know what o.d. or b.i.d. mean. I do like to get a printed readout and any investigations, blood labs, MRI are also copied for me. Even tho last visit I explained to him the thyroid # was wrong, I still got the same printout....wondering when we will finally sort this. Cd be V. dangerous for a patient new to thyroid meds, can affect many body systems, and certainly will not get TSH or any other panel tests into correct range.

No - BeenThereMT

[ In Reply To ..]
In our area, the large clinics have converted and the doctors are screaming about the crappy systems. Some of the small offices refused to go electronic based on the cost of upgrades and not seeing the point of the cost investment. I, too, have witnessed a doctor/patient encounter and it was at times a disaster. My family doctor was pretty good at keeping eye contact part of the visit, but a lot of time was spent using his laptop. The advantage is that the system generates a report for the patient and printed prescriptions which are legible.

These systems are not saving the doctors money or time, but they were told by the government that this was mandated and they believed they would benefit in the long wrong.

In some smaller communities, even hospitals have not upgraded their systems, as the cost is too enormous.

Questions about docs and EMR - NotSoBright

[ In Reply To ..]
Long post here. Sorrrry.

Some things have been gnawing at me for a while. I get the practical benefits of an electronic medical record -- legible, transferrable, accessible, etc., and useful if patient is unable to communicate -- but MTs have been transcribing records in electronic form for decades now, so why exactly is it that MTs were eliminated? While my doc is hunched over a keyboard, he never once looks in my eyes; I could be bleeding out of every orifice and he'd never know it. My doc used to actually touch me...but no more. No need to remove clothing. My subjective description of my condition is apparently enough.

Another thing is this: Yeah, it's great that your records can be transferred to another physician -- I'm sure it saves time; however, in the last couple of years, I've seen 2 specialists on my own (not referrals) for issues unrelated to primary care (though one could argue that your PCP should know everything), and the specialists had all my records before I arrived. Not sure how it happened, but it creeped me out! This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine tries to get treatment for an itchy rash but no one will treat her because the message that she's a "difficult patient" is communicated by each doc to the next. Ultimately she seeks out help from a vet (who, I believe, also gets forewarned by the medical community). I'm thinking that the small print on one of the documents you sign for your PCP must give permission for records to be sent anywhere at any time at your PCP's discretion? Why all the fuss about HIPAA, then?

I asked my doc once whether ANYthing I told him was considered strictly confidential, and he said, "Not so much; since your insurance carrier makes payment, your record is their property." Makes me a little afraid to have a heart-to-heart with my doc about symptoms that may embarrass me or make me fearful (e.g.,"is my leg weakness a precursor of ALS?" For sure, once ALS appears in your record for any reason, it may take hold. I think my medical history is MY business and not public property.

I feel that, if I want to start out a fresh relationship with a new doctor, I should be able to provide a concise history all by myself (heaven knows, all the existing point-and-click records are likely filled with errors and contradictions anyway). As we all know, if page 5 in our chart contains a medication error, no matter how obvious, the error will likely be on page 200 because it was never corrected.

Rant over.

Exactly - BeenThereMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I actually recently requested in strong language that errors in my medical record be corrected by my PCP. Single incident diagnosis was listed as being ongoing. There was a situational diagnosis that was listed as an ongoing diagnosis. My records indicated that I did not have a living will on file when I have had one for 20+ years. I was very annoyed and told my PCP as such. I told him that if he needed a diagnosis to correlate with my meds, fine, but let's be accurate. And I reminded him that I would be requesting another copy of the current encounter on my way out of the office and expected my records to be correct this time.

I also agree with your comment that there is less physical contact with our physicians. For a yearly checkup, there was no complete ROS, and the most minimal PE ever.

Be aware that every comment you make to the nurse/PA or doctor can generate an upgrade in your level of care for the encounter and the price of your visit. The programs prompt the healthcare providers to ask an extra question to up the level of care. It's all about the money. Shameful.

Been There MT - East Coaster

[ In Reply To ..]
I have HIV-related illness. (No, I was not "naughty"--I acquired HIV as a health care worker. I only became an MT so I could work at home after my diagnosis.) Anyway, it scares me to have my records with HIV in the record floating around. I live in a small rural area and if my neighbors knew I am HIV, they would shun me and my family.

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