From the article: "At first I thought EMR sounded like
a good idea. Then our practice started using one.
Tasks that once took seconds to perform on paper now require
multistepped points and clicks through a maze of menus. Checking patients into
the office is an odyssey involving scanners and the collection of demographic
data—their race, their preferred language, and so much more—required by
Medicare to prove that we are achieving "meaningful use" of our EMR.
What "meaningful use" means no one knows for sure, but our manual on
how to achieve it is 150 pages long.
Now the staff scurry about, rictus-like grins plastered to
their faces, trying to hide their underlying stress. The patients, each a Job
after completing the elaborate new check-in process—and wondering why the government
needs to know if they are an Alaska native, among many other things—arrive in
my exam room bewildered by their bureaucratic ordeal.
When the clicks don't get me
what I want, I naughtily handwrite a prescription. I skip ordering certain
tests I might want because it takes too much time—I'll do it next visit. I
dreaded the arrival of this season's flu-shot supply—now there were more orders
to input" Read more
