Why I Took This Course

When we met with Dr. Miller for our first session, she said that we probably took this course for one of two reasons: either we were bored and looking for something to do, or we were interested in health informatics.  Well, in this post I will try to convince you that I am taking the elective because I am interested in health informatics.

I've always been interested by things technologic.  I even admit that I've been an early adopter of gadgets before they were sensible to use (In 2001, I bought a $200 cd player that played cd's with mp3s on them, and then I only used it with regular audio cds).  Naturally, in medicine I look for ways that technology can help me in what I try to do.  I remember the first time I tried to use a paper chart.  I couldn't find a thing.  My preceptor had to show me that it had tabs and that each tab had different types information.  I was amazed at how foreign even that was.  I was more perplexed when I tried to read the darn thing.  I couldn't make much out.  In my third year of med school I was expected to use paper charts on a daily basis in outpatient clinics.  I was even more appalled.  I tried to research the patients past medical history, look up labs, try to make sense out of everyone's handwriting.  I remarked many times that using paper charts is insane.  I would have to say I still agree.  Even in Cerner, looking up a patient's history and labs is relatively simple (though I have ideas that I think would make it much simpler).

I remember on my Surg Onc rotation we had to present the 20-ish patients to the attending and residents before clinic.  It was the duty of us four medical students to research them the night before and come up with some coherent ramblings to present the next day.  This task was formidable, but helped me get used to researching a patient's history in Cerner.  I had to sift through the notes to find the information.  For the first couple of times, I didn't even know that I could organize the notes by provider or service instead of just date.  But even with the help of a computing system to organize the notes, it still seems like something is lacking, like it's not as easy as it could be.

So, the reason I am taking this course is to learn about this beast (EMR) that I will be using for the rest of my life.  I want to learn how all the different aspects of it work.  How the parts communicate with eachother.  I've seen some other hospital systems and I admit that I'm impressed with how complete VCUHS's is.  I'm interested in data entry.  In physician templates and how to make them work better.  I'm interested in electronic sign-outs and how to make the it as seamless as it can be.  I see the advances that are being made with mobile computing with smart phones and tablets.  I want to learn how they can be used to make workflow better and quicker.

The bottom line of why we use electronic medical records, though, is not because it's cool and we may get to carry around an iPad.  It's the potential safety and benefits to the patients that potentially lie in the proper implementation of a whole EMR system.  It's interesting that sometimes the implementation process initially hurts the patient safety, but EMRs must be implemented for the long-term benefit.

I look forward to the day when I will be able to pull up any patients complete past medical history.  Then health care will be able to provide complete service to patients, with many fewer patients and facts and charts falling through the cracks.