As I spend yet another weekend in the office catching up on my charting, I find my mind wandering to how my EHR was designed to taunt me. Let me explain. I am a big preventive medicine proponent and have spent hours developing measures in my EHR system of what preventive health services my patients need, as well as when they need them. When a patient comes in with a sore throat, I am alerted by a pop up box that they need a prostate exam. When I receive an electronic task that they need their blood pressure medication refilled, that pop up box again appears, reminding me of the overdue prostate exam. As I go through my account receivables at the end of the month, I am once again alerted by the pop up box of the same patient and his overdue prostate exam. By Linda M. Girgis, MD, FAAFP …read more
