How EMRs Help to Reduce a Patient’s Visit Time
With the advent of electronic medical records, the world was introduced to a new way of practicing medicine. A clinician no longer has to awkwardly shuffle through countless pages in a paper chart, searching for the most recent dosage change or a history of chickenpox. EMRs are a boon to practitioners and patient on many fronts and help everyone save time.
Up-to-the-minute Data At Your Fingertips
When your practice uses an EMR system, you can easily access a comprehensive overview of your patient’s entire medical history and also obtain information from referring physicians. EMRs make it possible for you and your staff to retrieve a record in a few keystrokes, eliminating the frustration and wait time that occurs when you must thumb through a chart for information.
Accuracy and Ease
It’s embarrassing and unprofessional, but it happens all too often: you’re handed the wrong paper chart for your next patient. When your practice uses EMRs, the system seamlessly connects to the appointment schedule, making sure you’ll be left without the proper patient information. You simply retrieve the day’s schedule, pull up the appointment slot on the screen, and view the pertinent patient information.
Using EMRs in the exam room allows you and your staff to quickly enter vitals, such as height, weight, blood pressure, temperature, and symptoms. The predefined fields provide a painless transition from one task to the next. When lab results are received, they’re automatically assigned to the proper patient’s record. The time and energy put into submitting prescriptions, transferring images and filling out lab and referral paperwork is cut dramatically. Because all of this work can be quickly performed in the EMR, you’ll waste less time in the exam room.
Transferring Data is a Snap
Making a referral to another physician often involves considerable time photocopying medical records. With an EMR, isolating and printing (or electronically transferring) information to the referral practice, or printing the information for the patient is simple and eliminates wait times. Since many EMRs are interoperable, it’s possible to transfer information straight from your exam room.
The time saved using an EMR puts you and your patients back in control, not the paper monster of decades past. Providing patient-focused medicine can become a priority again. Thanks to EMRs, you can see more patients and provide them with a higher level of care without worrying about cumbersome record-keeping and accuracy issues.
