I think everyone has nurtured the fantasy at one time of leaving behind community, connections and maddeningly persistent telephone solicitors (or bill collectors), and going someplace where nobody knows our name--a kind of anti-Cheers. The emergency room, however, is not the place we want to be anonymous when we are sick or injured. We want our doctors to have the latest information about our health at their fingertips, to help them give us the best care possible. Yet we might as well be blank slates, I learned when researching electronic health records for my latest UT HealthLeader article.
“We are not sharing data across organizations right now,” says Dean Sittig, PhD, professor of Biomedical Informatics at the UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics, who together with Ryan Radecki, MD, coauthored a commentary in the July 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association recommending electronic medical records (also called electronic health records or EHRs) as a way to improve patient safety. He estimates that only 40 to 50 percent of academic centers, and fewer than 20 percent of small doctor practices, use electronic health records.
Thankfully, the news isn't all bleak. Major academic centers and affiliated hospitals are implementing sophisticated electronic health records systems that increase patient safety and convenience. And experts at UTHealth are working with independent physician practices to help them get with the program. You can read more in my article: For the Record: Why we need electronic records.