Guest posting buy Pooja Kapadia
Electronic medical records have been touted in recent years as the ultimate method for keeping patient records. The case for the paperless option is compelling and isn’t a small surprise that the Obama administration heavily promoted this idea, with more than $27 billion in incentives given to doctors to convert. And this worked. From 2008 through 2013, the percentage of US doctors’ offices with EMRs rose from 17 to 48 percent and hospitals implementing EMRs increased from 13 to 70 percent.
Good:
More time 
As any medical office staff member can attest, paper medical charts require a fair amount of physical labor. For example, when a patient comes in, their files need to be physically pulled from storage, transported, stamped and resorted, all in one visit. As one can imagine, all of this back and forth results in a greater possibility of human errors, as charts might go missing, papers might fall out or information might be out of order. I spent time shadowing a doctor who still uses paper records, and there were many instances where I was trying to locate lost papers from a patient’s file, or even find the missing file itself! The nurses were in charge of this task. This was a huge waste of their time! Instead of talking to patients, they were stuck with moving papers. This led them to always be in a rush when talking to patients. This ultimately resulted in getting a less detailed history, and potentially reduced quality of care. EHR could have eliminated all of this.
And the Bad:
Crashes
Unlike technology, ink and paper never crash. A prolonged computer outage can impact both the physicians as well as the patients. The delay in access to medical records makes it difficult for physicians to try and treat patients who come in. The medical staff can try and compensate with fax and phone reports, but this is no substitute for a complete set of medical records. They have to try and rely on patient memory, which is (at the least) slightly hazy, or (at worst) completely skewed. In addition, patients get frustrated as they cannot schedule surgeries or even get their own test results back.
For me, EMR systems seem like a good way to streamline the process of charting a patient’s history. This is a transformation that is happening before us. Yes there are flaws: it is a new system. When is anything new without flaws? However, there are so many benefits to be gained from this. I think that once EMR becomes standard practice, people will develop ways to tweak and improve the current systems. EMR allow medical staff to use their time talking to patients and seeing more of them, instead of physically moving papers. This leads to better care for the patient, as they get more attention from their providers. Better care: this is what we all want right?
Work Cited:
“As Patients’ Records Go Digital, Theft And Hacking Problems Grow.” Kaiser Health News As Patients Records Go Digital Theft And Hacking Problems Grow Comments. Kiaser, 03 June 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2015http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/electronic-health-records-theft-
Freudenheim, Milt. “The Ups and Downs of Electronic Medical Records.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.