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PRODUCT DEMO
Find out how the ChartWare Electronic Medical Record (EMR) can improve your practice today.
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“We were attracted
to ChartWare
because of
customization,
as well as the
painless method
of physician data
entry. ”
Dr. Andrew Moyce
Customer Since 2002 |
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Computerized Records Reduce Medical Mistakes -- And Ruinous Lawsuits
Dr.Cecil George
Well-publicized medical errors in recent months have sent shock waves among physicians, reminding them of the dangers to their patients and their own vulnerability to ruinous lawsuits. "Tragically, most of these mistakes could have been cured by the simplest form of cross-checking," says Cecil George MD.
"The first thing that needs to be done, obviously, is to organize work so that errors are minimized. Every doctor wants that," George says. "The second is to make sure that everything is documented so that, if a lawsuit is brought, the doctor has evidence to refute it. Electronic record-keeping can play a crucial role in both areas."
"One of the most common mistakes in all medicine is prescribing medications that have an adverse interaction," George points out. "The first thing I do, whenever I see a patient, is to go over current medications. With the hand-held computer I use, that takes a couple of minutes."
"By contrast, looking through the usual file of papers in doctors’ offices, with medications prescribed at different times and rarely updated, is so time consuming I don’t think many doctors do it conscientiously."
"But even if they did everything right, doctors can still be successfully sued," he adds. "Courts take the view that if it wasn’t recorded, it didn’t happen. By the traditional methods of handwritten notes or dictation, a few omissions, illegible writing or just plain transcription errors can be enough to lose a case."
When George began using computers for charting patient records in 1987, his main aim was to save time and money. "But with more and more physicians sued every year, it has also become imperative to have the orderly, legible, retrievable documentation that only computers can provide," he says.
Being somewhat frugal I balked at the idea of putting a computer in each of my exam rooms. I wondered if I could find a way to use a single portable computer to access my network and do my charting ‘on the fly’."
"I construct the entire patient note while I am with the patient, so I don't forget anything and I do it with a pen, not a keyboard. I’ve customized my copy of ChartWare so that it reflects my own way of working and speaking. The patient record is then in a form that I can find quickly at any time. I can also use it to let my nurse or another physician know exactly what I’ve prescribed, forward an order automatically to a pharmacy, order a lab test and, if it ever comes to it, show a judge exactly what I did."
His patients -- he sees 35 or 40 of them every day -- like ChartWare too. "When I refer them to a specialist, they don’t have to go over their medical history again or remember what drugs they’re taking or what they’re allergic to -- all that is in my note."
If patients find themselves in the emergency room, unable perhaps to describe their condition, "their record can be found and transmitted, quickly and accurately," he says.
"I can’t conceive of going back to dictation or handwritten notes," George says. "I estimate ChartWare saves me one and a half fulltime employees, equal to around $45,000 a year in pay and benefits. For a small practice, that’s a lot of money."
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