Excellent thread. Jump in Carolie. I still stress we all must be careful what we wish for or we will end up with a program that looks a lot like NexGen or some other useless piece of poo poo. Version 5, I do not really believe, was Jon's dream EMR...most was mandated in order to acquire the blessings of the government for "meaningful use". I still have not updated, really do not want to, except for a very few features which I think might help my work flow. Martin is almost correct in that I have stated often about leaving AC basically alone. But, I have not actually espoused making no changes. I have argued to change the things that need changing, like the letter writer, fix the bugs, make the work flow flow, etc. It was the simple, intuitive, no nonsense, lost cost features that drew all of us to AC in the first place.
As most of you know, I do not really cotton to change unless it makes darn good sense or benefits my bottom line without compromising my principles. I am not afraid of technology but I am not enamored by it either. I like to touch and feel and see and smell and interact with my patients. I still use a stethoscope even though there are much more techier things out there now. I believe in the healing/reassuring effects of chiropsia (the laying on of hands). I still pick up Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine and read about the differences between hemochromatosis and hemosiderosis. So, my EMR should assist me in this...not replace it. I like simple. After playing around a bit with V5 I agree with David. AC is no longer the program it once was. It would certainly be a lot harder to jump in like we did years ago and learn it in 1-2 days. Definitely more thought needs to be given by the AC team regarding instructing new users. And, once the PM module comes out...look out. The learning curve will go up many, many notches.
Leslie, the crotchety old grump who likes Martin anyway
