Electronic Barrier to Communication
Doctors Are Talking: EHRs Destroy the Patient Encounter (requires free membership with Medscape)
There's no doubt that electronic health records (EHRs) spark strong emotions in doctors -- and many of those emotions are negative. The gripes cover three main areas: One, EHRs have made the patient encounter far more annoying and complex than it ever was before. Two, many physicians feel that EHRs take doctors, who were trained to be independent thinkers, and constrain their ability to make independent decisions, causing them to feel like data entry clerks, with a computer telling them how to practice medicine. Last but not least, a large number of physicians feel that EHRs erode the doctor-patient relationship by creating a barrier between the two.
Three recent Medscape articles on EHRs are cases in point. Collectively they generated nearly 700 comments, many emotionally charged, from physicians and other providers. For a glimpse at what the fuss is about, read on. In the series of article above, the authors make several cogent points.
1. The actual physician-patient visit is now data driven rather than a complex interpersonal interaction leading to quality care.
2. The physicians feel like high paid data clerks.
3. The providers feels there is an actual virtual barrier between them and the patients. Providers are looking at the computer instead of the patient.
XpressTechnologies EHR is an efficient way of documenting the appropriate data without a degree in “Computer Data Input”. The product is designed to be used by a busy, multi-tasking, provider without adding the expense of scribes, more medical assistants, and advanced practice providers as a necessity to stay “above water”. The additions of more help including voice activated technology (Dragon) are value added propositions rather than the inability to practice without them.
XpressTechnologies is easy and intuitive to use and does not add to the physician-computer-barrier. The flexibility of the program does not control behavior but through built-in risk management protocols aids rather than constrains the provider to provide the appropriate treatment for the appropriate diagnosis or problems.
XpressTechnologies take these measures to heart and has a created a simple series of solutions to complex issues. The XpressTechnologies Practice Management, Electronic Health Record, and Billing solutions comprise a user-friendly platform that was created “For Doctors by Doctors”.
