Electronic Medical Records
Dear Patient,
This is the third letter I have written about the Medical Center’s installation of an Electronic Medical Record, replacing our outdated paper charting system. In past letters, I have shared some of the significant advantages to our patients in improved and safer care and more efficient service.
We formally began the project on August 1st and plan to be fully “live” at the end of November 2006. This process is a huge change for doctors, nurses, and the support staff, some of whom are novices on the computer. It would be much easier if the average age of the staff was eight years old. That age group thrives in the digital world!
Our goal is to see every patient that needs to be seen, just as we did prior to the beginning of the “EMR” installation. Since it may take longer to “chart” and write orders on patients, all of the providers have added additional hours to their schedules. In essence, they will all be working harder and longer during this “roll-out” phase. This will reach a peak in November and should level off by the end of this year. At that time, the clinical improvements and our better efficiencies should become noticeable. Those will not happen during the “roll-out” phase. In fact, you may see some of our adjustment stress “up close and personal”. Although our goal is not to add to wait times, those may occur during this time.
The entire staff at the Medical Center hopes we don’t inconvenience you as we work toward ultimately improving our service to you. Unfortunately, there is no way to get to where we want to be without a transition stage which may have its bumps. However, we are all very confident we are doing the right thing for the right reasons.
I want to thank all of you in advance for your patience and understanding.
Thank you for you attention.
