Dr. Wes: Doctors: The Electronic Log Jam
As more and more results and reports require the electronic signature, it is becoming increasingly difficult for some of us who do not spend the day at the computer screen to promptly sign our results and move them to the chart. The IT specialists and administrators realize that someone has to take the fall if there is a problem amongst all those results, so all of them pass before the doctor. But few of these technology people realize how long it takes to scroll down to find the results of a test that appears below a tiny pop-up window or the time it takes to decompress a pdf file on each test result reported. Multiply those times by hundreds of results or reports a day and it’s no wonder doctors remain skepical of a computer’s ability to save us time. The more tests and electronic signature requirements must pass beneath my typing fingers, there is a limit as to how fast it can find its way to the patient’s chart.
