08.10.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:57 pm by heaven
The other day I saw a patient with abdominal pain. The patient had the pain for some time. They had a CT scan of the abdomen at an outpatient radiology facility the day before. I asked if she knew the result, and she said, “No, but can't you just pull it up off of your computer?” The answer of course was “No.”
This statement should turn the world of information technology on its head! When I answered “No.”, she replied, “Well, I know you can access the records from my personal doctor.” I said, “With all due respect, it is a Saturday night, how would I do that? I doubt your doctor's office is open.” Her reply in a very frustrated way, “ You mean you honestly don't share all your computer information with him?” Again, “No, nor any other doctor in the area for that matter.”
So here a layperson, whose current job is working as a cashier in a supermarket, sees everyone with wireless phones, broadband internet access, satellite TV, has the ability to view and pay her bills online thinks it would be safe to assume that this should occur at every level in business and especially in healthcare where a life may hang in the balance.
As mentioned in my previous blog entry this is a widespread issue that is frankly strangling the business of medicine. Reports to look at why something like length of stay is long are impossible to generate since there are 3-4 different systems that look at all the data and none of them speak to one another. Well, now I'm frustrated, I've blogged about the same topic 2 posts in a row, granted they were far apart, I've got to find another pet peeve.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 4:57 pm by heaven
The other day I saw a patient with abdominal pain. The patient had the pain for some time. They had a CT scan of the abdomen at an outpatient radiology facility the day before. I asked if she knew the result, and she said, “No, but can't you just pull it up off of your computer?” The answer of course was “No.”
This statement should turn the world of information technology on its head! When I answered “No.”, she replied, “Well, I know you can access the records from my personal doctor.” I said, “With all due respect, it is a Saturday night, how would I do that? I doubt your doctor's office is open.” Her reply in a very frustrated way, “ You mean you honestly don't share all your computer information with him?” Again, “No, nor any other doctor in the area for that matter.”
So here a layperson, whose current job is working as a cashier in a supermarket, sees everyone with wireless phones, broadband internet access, satellite TV, has the ability to view and pay her bills online thinks it would be safe to assume that this should occur at every level in business and especially in healthcare where a life may hang in the balance.
As mentioned in my previous blog entry this is a widespread issue that is frankly strangling the business of medicine. Reports to look at why something like length of stay is long are impossible to generate since there are 3-4 different systems that look at all the data and none of them speak to one another. Well, now I'm frustrated, I've blogged about the same topic 2 posts in a row, granted they were far apart, I've got to find another pet peeve.
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