We now also have the advantage of well-developed medical voice recognition technology that can be used with most EHRs. Although some doctors say that the software is expensive, it can cost about $1,500 for the software and another $200-$300 for a good microphone, as well as the time to train on the software. But that expense needs to be weighed against the lost productivity of not using such software. A common complaint we hear from older doctors is that they are spending 1 to 2 hours a night completing charts. If voice recognition software could shave off half that time, decrease stress, and increase satisfaction, then it would pay for itself in 2 weeks.
Another issue is that, because the EHR enables so many things to be done from the EHR platform, many doctors find themselves doing all the work. It is important to work as a team and let each member of the team contribute to making the process more efficient. It turns out that this usually ends up being satisfying for everyone who contributes to patient care. It requires standing back from the process periodically and thinking about areas of inefficiency and how things can be done better.
One clear example is medication reconciliation: A nurse or clinical pharmacist can go over medicines with patients, and while the physician still needs to review the medications, it takes much less time to review medications than it does to enter each medication with the correct dose. Nurses also can help with preventive health initiatives. Performing recommended preventive health activities ranging from hepatitis C screening to colonoscopy can be greatly facilitated by the participation of nursing staff, and their participation will free up doctors so they can have more time to focus on diagnosis and treatment. Teamwork is critical.
Finally, if you don’t know something that is important to your practice – learn it! We are accustomed to going to CME conferences and spending our time learning about diseases like diabetes, asthma, and COPD. Each of these disease accounts for 5%-10% of the patients we see in our practice, and it is critically important to stay current and learn about them. We use our EHR for 100% of the patients we see; therefore, we should allocate time to learning about how to navigate the EHR and work more efficiently with it.