I type my notes right in the room in front of the patient. I have my laptop situated so I can look at the patient and look at the keyboard (as I am not a trained typist). My patients are very comfortable with this. I even joke with them about what a poor typist I am. I complete 99.9% of all notes in front of the patient. I use templates very heavily. I think it is completely justified to allow patients to see what their encounter totally entails. I also think it is good to let patients see the "paperwork" which must be completed. I would rather set my appointment schedule for 15 minute visits and complete my notes at the time of the exam than to set them at 10 minutes and still have 2 hours or so of "paperwprk" to do at the end of the day. Before my patients leave the room, the note is at the front desk, the staff is already scheduling tests, referrals or return visits, the scripts have been faxed or printed and, someday hopefully a useful superbill will have been generated. The comment I hear most from patients about this method is "WOW!!! You can do all that from in here?" The patients are impressed that the staff is already on the phone with consultants offices or with the hospital scheduling xrays etc. by the time they get to the front desk. They love the faxed scripts as most of the time their medicines are ready and waiting for them when they get to the pharmacy. Also, I have even had pharmacists call us within a minute or so of my faxing the script to tell me they have a different dose or number down in their records, are we sure what I faxed is what I want? Now, I consider it a major chore if I actually have to take out a script pad and write one out.
Leslie
