The Internet And Electronic Medical Records Software

The serendipity of electronic medical records.

You hear a lot these days about doctor’s “going electronic” with their medical records. You know the proverbial “paperless office” or “electronic health record”. You might think that this is a “cure all” “end all” for the “up-to-date” techno savvy medical practice. Doctors are wanting to “go electronic” for a variety of reasons from saving on transcription costs, to saving on charting “space”, and wanting more time back for their personal lives, to more esoteric reasons like wanting to be known by clients as up to date on technology.

This all reminds me of the mid 1990’s when we as a company were selling IBM’s Voice Type dictation software on the internet to doctors in the USA and internationally as well.
When we first started out, the reasons doctors were ordering this technology were much the same as the reasons for going to an “electronic medical record” nowadays—lower dictation costs, improved “turn around time” of information available to other doctors, and less time at the office.

But what we’re finding out is that history is repeating itself. The hidden “serendipity” of the “Voice dictation” software is also coming true of the current “electronic medical records” trend- the hidden serendipity? Better patient care! Yes, what we found in the “voice dictation” days were a couple of benefits. 1- Radiologists for example, were dictating the chart while looking at the x-rays, and then reviewing their own dictation for accuracy(how’s that for better patient care!). 2- As soon as the dictation was available as a document, it could be mailed or faxed to the patient’s primary care doctor, and available on the hospital network for all doctors to review. What was once taking from 48-72 hours, or longer (from x-ray to dictation to transcription to charting), was now happening in a matter of hours. What the studies showed us is that with more accurate, and timely information, all the rest of the health care team was able to provide better care for the patient and get them home sooner and healthier.

Somewhere right now, a lot of doctors are evaluating and thinking about the “best reason” to choose ‘electronic medical records software” – from my experience, “increased patient care” is the best reason!

Article Source: http://www.search4allinfo.com

harry selent is author of this article on electronic medical records software. Find more information about emr software here.

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