We end the week on a note that is semi-whimsical, and thus also at least half-serious.
This doctor writes of his reaction recently when, gasp, his computer froze when he was with a patient, and nothing he did managed to unlock it.
“It's never supposed to happen of course,” he begins. “But it happened today: the computer froze and could not be resurrected - a brief interlude to the daily clinic routine.”
What ensues is a comedy of bumblings as he – and his colleagues, as well, as it appears the entire practice is similarly locked up – tries to remember the steps he used to take pre-EMR.
"How about a piece of paper? Oh, and a pen? Anybody got a pen? . . . Some archaic progress notes appear, the medical assistant found a pen, then some interesting order forms that you've never seen before appear. ‘Dang, I have to fill those out?’ You think, ‘How will the lab and xray get these?’ ‘Do we call the orders in? . . .’What about that prescription - anybody got a prescription pad? ‘No, got rid of those a long time ago. We're electronic now, remember? Can't use them any more.’"
There’s no reason to doubt that this doctor has moved willingly into the digital future, but his “mishap” served to remind him of some pretty valuable things.
“Looking back on a handshake and words of appreciation from his patient,” he says, “for a tiny moment of time, I experienced a blast from the past that proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the computers are about the computers, rules, protocols and billing while health care was still about the doctor and the patient.
“Like turning off the TV and computer at home, it was a brief but beautiful respite from the daily monotony of a thousand keyboard clicks. . . . I found patients responded to our efforts with much more appreciation, not just an aire (sic) of expectation. And despite the challenges of the day, it was good to know that I can still be a doctor that thinks out of the box and not just a clerical secretary.”
HIT is here to stay, but if it takes an occasional breakdown to help providers remember what lies at the heart of their efforts, that’s not such a bad thing at all.
