EMR vs Tumblr, EMR Issues, and Improving Care

I see two major issues of irresponsibility here:

1. Why does the facility these tweeters are working at allow them to tweet at all?

Why isn’t twitter, along with FaceBook, and all of the other social media sites, blocked from access on the facility’s networks?

Having worked in the healthcare industry for close to 15 years, I have seen some really stupid things done by medical professionals who had access to eBay, FaceBook, Twitter, and other social media outlets while they were at work:

The anesthesiologist who left the patient in the OR so he could go check on his eBay auction. That was the straw which broke the proverbial camel’s back and caused me to lock down the entire inside network. When my then boss challenged me as to why I locked it down, I told the boss that I didn’t want to testify when the patient, or patient’s family sued.

All of the medical facilities I work with, or with which I consult now block access to ALL TICKETING, AUCTION and SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES on their staff and public websites.

Patient privacy and safety come FIRST – above and beyond the need of any one individual to satisfy his or her urge to make a public comment, stand in line on a website to purchase tickets or to check the status of an auction.

I’m sorry, but as someone who is entrusted with the guardianship of medical and financial records in my day-to-day activities as a network administrator, I will never allow anyone to jeopardize either the safety of the patient, or the integrity and safety of the patient data.

2. Why isn’t the facility using the EHR the way most EHR software was intended to be used: INTERACTIVELY, with the doctor, nurse or staff member simultaneously entering data and making notes while they are interviewing, diagnosing or treating the patient?

With a properly coded EHR program, proper training of the staff by the facility, and proper use of the program by the staff: whether doctor, nurse, staff member or other practitioner, a well designed EHR software program will actually enhance the patient’s visit or procedure because it can be used SIMULTANEOUSLY to the interaction with the patient!

The proper utilization of well written EHR software will bring several benefits, to both the practice and the patient:

– it will allow the medical professional to do a more thorough job of diagnosis or, and provide better treatment to, the patient because the medical professional will have all of the patient’s history in front of them at the time of the interview or interaction;

– it will, in many cases, alert the medical professional to patients who are scamming or playing the system to gain access to unnecessary or illegal procedures or medications;

– it will allow the medical professional to better use his or her time because he or she can be entering diagnosis, comments, notes, and data gleaned from the patient in real time, vs trying to remember it or transcribe it at a later time. The transcription process is one of the most frequent causes for error or delays and by eliminating that process many errors are eliminated immediately – without ever taking place;

– by the medical professional entering data in real time, the overall safety and care of the patient is significantly enhanced and, ultimately, the reputation of the medical facility goes up and the liabilities go down.

Thanks for your response, John.

While I understand your concerns, regarding the fact that staff will simply find another way to access social media, the lockdowns I mentioned are not pretty much the norm at most of the larger hospitals I deal with in the Chicago area.

In larger cities, on large hospital campuses, it’s not really a big deal because the hospitals are keenly aware of the implications of not paying attention to the patient and are now training their staff accordingly.

I would call your attention to the top two hospitals, especially the number two contender, listed at the most recent US News and World Reports issue on hospitals and then take a good look at their policies with regard to employee and staff access to non-medical resources on the internet. The employees and staff are basically locked out while at work, except on their own devices and then, only during lunch or break times.

How the safety of patient data is handled is up to the individual facility, but my personal preference is that the patient’s safety, confidentiality and healthcare comes above everything else.