Switching to EMR is not that simple

There is an expression often encountered in the burgeoning field of information technology, the use of computers and communication devices to enable the sharing of data between enterprises and people. "To err is human. To really screw things up requires a computer." That observation should be considered if the goal is to establish an electronic medical record software(EMR). Switching to EMR software is not that simple.

In years past, medical records were manually generated by providers. Handwritten, typewritten, and transcribed voice recordings were "it." Speedy medical record systems were unknown and never were really believed possible. Information sharing between medical personnel was also slow and usually quite cumbersome. Further, recording and interpreting errors were frequent. Indeed, there were classical jokes in abundance about the poor handwriting and abysmal spelling skills of physicians. Pharmacists complained of their inability to read prescription forms, nurses often-misread doctor's orders, and consultants wasted time and effort in attempts to understand what it was that the referring doctors wanted from consultations.

Today, a physician can pick up telephones and, through computerized voice recognition systems, digitize and install requests, reports, and instructions into data storage systems. From there, this digitized information can be transmitted to where it may be needed, such as nursing stations, ancillary medical services within hospitals, pharmacies, consultants, and more. Can errors similar to those that occurred using pen and ink still occur? They can and do occur. Digitized voice recognition is far from perfect. The basic reason for this imperfection is that not all voices are alike and word pronunciation differs person-to-person. Some words are similar in sound, such as "aspirin" and "aspirate," "elevate" and "alleviate." One can understand the opportunities for a computerized system to mix things up. The systems need to be trained to deal with input from multiple voices.

No doubt it is already very apparent that switching to EMR is not that simple. The truth is that switching from manual medical record systems; that is, paper, folder, file shelf type systems to computer-based EMR systems gets more and more complicated as system growth progresses from localized systems to those that span whole institutions. Beyond single-institution systems are those that reach outward to connect between diverse medical centers. The benefits of growth are huge, as are the problems to be solved before anything like real inter-institutional connectivity can be achieved.

Electronic medical records (EMR) must be complete, accurate, timely, and shareable if they are to be useful to the medical personnel involved in diagnostic and treatment efforts on behalf of patients. That is where it starts. If the local EMR system cannot provide near perfection of records within an institution, it certainly cannot share perfection between institutions.

Because of a lack of EMR system universal standards, many EMR systems cannot communicate with other EMR systems. Thus, it is back to paper-record sharing with benefit loss that appropriate EMR systems could avoid. To make EMR systems universally compatible, a universal standard should be developed.

Switching to EMR is not that simple.

ADSC is the leading provider in certified emr and practice management software, currently serving over 30,000 physicians and healthcare providers.