New Info Systems from the Patient’s Perspective

posted by admin at 7:03 pm

I’ve had two doctor visits this summer. Both were in the process of installing their new information system. At one (I was a new patient), they asked me to come in 30 minutes before my appointment time to fill out all the paperwork. While I did this, I wondered why they didn’t send me the forms to complete in advance (I had made the appointment months before). Then I also would have had all the info I needed – like my spouse’s social security number. When I was in the exam room, the delightful tech asked me many of the same general info and med history questions and she input them into the computer! When I couldn’t immediately recall the date of a prior surgery. I asked her to look on the form I just filled out. She seemed surprised that it was on the form too.

At the other, I am a patient of record and yet, I got entirely blank forms and had to enter my address, phone age, birth date, family info on each form. They also wanted my spouse’s social security number and I still didn’t have it! Why did I have to fill out an entire medical history which I know they already have?

We’re all patients too. We should run through our new implementations from a patient’s perspective, don’t you think?