At this point in time (it could change at any moment) I have eleven doctors that I keep busy. They run the range from a family physician to an Opthamologist to a Neurologist to a Rheumatologist. It’s pretty much an impossibility for all of these doctors to keep up with what the other doctors have recently diagnosed me with (there’s always something new and unusual), what new medicines they’ve prescribed, what tests they’ve ordered and how they feel my condition is currently.

This can really cause me problems. I try, really try, to remember as much as I can about what a certain doctor said or what test I had. I do keep track of my meds because that’s easy. But when I’m sitting in one of my doctor’s offices and am asked about something that happened a few weeks earlier, I often forget. Then that doctor doesn’t have a clue. I ask for records to be sent but most of the time they are in never land where my medical files sit for ages.

I stopped going to one doctor’s particular office (he has two) because that office never had my file for him during my appointment. He’d ask me what happened during our last visit. I only see him every 6 months so there was no way I could help him. The staff at his other office is more professional and I assume more organized. I don’t have that problem there. I pray that I don’t have an emergency when he’s at the unorganized office!

I have two doctors that use electronic medical records software. What a pleasure it is for me! All of my records are stored and safe. Records are easily printed out for other doctors. All of my prescription information is saved. I get printed RX’s and appointment papers. There’s never a problem if I need a note for my husband’s work if he has to use his FMLA leave to take care of me. It’s a striking difference from paper records.

VirMedice helps doctors offices switch from paper to to electronic records. This not only helps me as a patient but can make doctors practices run smoother. One of the things I’ve noticed from electronic records is you can actually read them. No doctor’s chicken scratch to try to decipher! I know that pharmacists would probably agree that this in itself is an incentive for doctors to utilize this type of record keeping.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 7:51 pm and is filed under Health Info, Health is a State of Mind. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.