Going with the new flow: How to succeed in the electronic world

The transition from paper to electronic medical records can be a smooth ride, if you prepare for it.

By Larry Stevens, AMNews correspondent. Feb. 11, 2002.

The process of treating a patient involves a flurry of activity and data collection that ideally should enjoin at a single place and a single point in time: the patient chart at the time of the patient encounter.

For doctors to be efficient, accurate and compensated fairly, they must have access to information from every person -- clinical or administrative -- who dealt with the patient relative to the current treatment.

Not that the ideal always happens.

Getting that to happen is the attraction and promise of the electronic medical record. But the transition to EMR from paper charts, what with the expense, training, work flow change, potential privacy issues and other side effects, can be difficult, even for practices enthusiastic for the technology.

The anxiety is palpable. "The first week I was using the EMR I felt it was driving me instead of the other way around," said Thomas Troost, MD, partner of the three-doctor Washington (D.C.) ENT Group.

But proper preparation, training and support before, during and after the electronic transition can help melt any fears away -- or at least give you an idea whom to call if something goes wrong.

In time, Dr. Troost's anxieties faded, and he prefers an EMR over paper charts. "It became much easier to get at information I need when I need it," he said.

One of the major reasons for buying an EMR is to improve what you see as an inefficient work flow. So if you're going to buy a system, you need to know what your current work flow is and what you want to change. Often, doctors who have made successful transitions look first to see if there's anything they can standardize in easy-to-fill templates. One doctor who did just that is Charles Roman, MD, a solo internist in Columbus, Ga., who employs a physician assistant and a staff of 15 at an in-house CLIA laboratory. [...]