I just get tired of that smooth, monotone voice in my head saying "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that...."
2001: A Space Odyssey is still an incredible experience. Thankfully it's 11 years after that movie was set and we don't have computers "thinking" and taking us over maliciously. But the sentiment of this post is: computers have taken over our lives, just in a different way.
I agree with the logic of Dave's reply. The program can't have multiple charts open, end of story. So a user would really have three options: 1) get a different EHR, 2) change the practice style or modify in some capacity to bend to the limits of the EHR, 3) continue beating one's head against that ethereal brick wall.
In my FP practice, I've never once had occasion to enter demographic information. I have staff that do this. But maybe not all AC users have staff? That is sad, and I wish for their sake they could get some help.
Also when patients bring one family member and ask me to look at several other family members "real quick," I politely explain that I'm happy to work them in but we have other patients who called ahead and scheduled. then I explain what we'll do is happily work them into the schedule, but since they didn't call ahead for the other family members we'll see other people as they show up and i'll see this family in between those other scheduled pts. I further explain it may be a while but I'm happy to get them all in. Simply explaining that I can't do a two-fer or three-fer on the spot helps people lower there unrealistic expectation. They always understand. Then I send a staffer in that room to collect their copays, get me encounter forms, get vitals, and start a chart on each one. Then I can move on to the next scheduled patient and come back in a few minutes to talk the -fers.
It's rare, but sometimes people ask me to compare one child to another. For example with growth charts, I would explain "Ma'am my EMR lets me only be in one chart at a time. I'm printing little Johnny's growth curve and we'll continue working on him first. When we are done w/ Johnny, we'll move on to little Suzie and compare growth curves at that time." We live in a consumer society where people are so impatient they want everything done yesterday. People need a reality check, and I'm happy to politely explain when reality doesn't conform to their fantasy about what my EMR can and can't do. Afterall, this ain't McDonald's.
Have I ever closed one chart and opened another to look at someone else? Yes all the time. But it just doesn't seem like a chore. CTRL+S is a wonderful thing. Snap, it's closed. Very quick and easy. In fact when the parents bring in Suzie and Johnny for the exact same illness (sinusitis in this example), I love it. I will document Johnny's illness. do his prescriptions then close the chart and move on to Suzie. But before moving to Suzie, I opened a notepad .txt file on the desktop. It takes 15 seconds to copy and paste each section of Johnny's note to the .txt file. When I'm in Suzie's, I copy and paste those sections into her chart in 15 seconds. Wow that was WAY faster than hand writing her separate note or dictating her note separately. That visit was also short b/c mom said "Suzie's symptoms are exactly the same as Johnny's." ERx her meds, boom, done. I'm outta there.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I've done what Dave is suggesting. I conformed to the limits of my EMR so much that they don't feel like limits anymore. It's just the way it is, and actually the limits when compared to alternative ways (dictation, hand writing) slower methods of charting are not limits at all.
I hope drwolffe can find peace with this EMR or some other EMR and not feel limited by what it can't do. I hope rather he can see that the EMR allows such other amazing capacities to save time these slight inconveniences are still leap years ahead of the old paper methods of charting.
