One of New Media Medicine's leading voices, Kevin Pho, has another op-ed piece in USA Today. It is entitled, "Why Doctors Still Balk At Electronic Medical Records." Here is an excerpt:
Despite the advantages of computerized records — including reduction of errors, improved preventive care and potential health care cost savings — adoption of the technology remains distressingly low. In addition, the learning curve for these programs is steep, increasing the amount of time a physician spends per patient.I could not agree more. I am a primary care physician myself and our physician group has been dragging our feet on getting an electronic medical records system. The reasons above are among our rationale. In addition, Kevin is now a member of the USA Today's Board of Contributors. Congrats on this and thanks for keeping up the voice of physicians.Furthermore, today's electronic record systems are riddled with problems. Many programs boil the patient encounter down to a series of "yes" or "no" questions that are then entered into the software. The resulting computer-generated notes are almost devoid of useful clinical information.