The article about Pediatric Associates in CA has a nugget with a potentially outsized impact: the implication that VFC vaccines…
DOCtalk by Dr. Gregg 9/16/12
Back to Paper?
So, you’ve gone digital. You did the planning, looked at some systems, made the decision, and survived the implementation. You’ve gone live.
Maybe it was a few months ago; maybe it was a few years ago. Regardless of how long you’ve been recording health information via digital technology, have you ever considered what it would be like to go back to paper?
I do. In fact, it seems I consider it (sometimes seriously) about every three to four months.
- When we have a major software glitch, I think about paper.
- When our server serves up blank screens, I think about paper.
- When our Internet Service Provider fails to provide Internet service, I think about paper.
- When our electricity provider fails to provide electricity, I think about paper.
- When I look at my electric bill, I think about paper.
- When I have to pony up XX thousand dollars for another failed, broken, or stolen piece of hardware, I think about paper.
- When I’m trying to find the extra money to pay for the all-too-frequent software or hardware upgrades, I think about paper.
- When a staff person figures out a new and exciting way to lock up our print spooler, I think about paper.
- When I start trying to jump through all the information-gathering hoops to meet Meaningful Use or some other set of digitally-related federal or insurance company regulations, rules, or demands, I think about paper.
- When I look at the horrendous system generated reports from other digitally-enabled providers that are either far too detailed to be of use or far too short to convey the true clinical picture, I think about paper.
When I think about paper … I mean when I REALLY think about paper and what it was like trying to schedule on paper and store paper charts and find lost paper charts and read the handwriting in paper charts and wade through four inch thick paper charts and coalesce meaningful practice data from numerous paper charts …
… I think about HIT.
From the trenches …
PS: I have a dear young friend, the daughter of a brilliant nurse and IT wunderkind, who has a form of juvenile myositis. Her life and health have been so impacted by it. She asked me to ask you to, please, take a minute before September 19 to vote for CureJM so that they might win a $250,000 grant in the 2012 Chase Community Giving 2012 Program. It just takes a click or so… please.
“I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.” – Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Gregg Alexander, a grunt in the trenches pediatrician at Madison Pediatrics, is Chief Medical Officer for Health Nuts Media, directs the Pediatric Office of Today! exhibit for the American Academy of Pediatrics, and sits on the board of directors of the Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP).
Thank you so much for sharing the information and link for Cure JM and the Chase Community Giving contest. My grandson was diagnosed 5.5 years ago with Juvenile Dermatomyositis. He is doing well and has been off all medication for almost a year now. We pray daily that he will continue to do well and not have a flare. We will spend the rest of his life taking care to make sure that he doesn’t end up back at square one. This grant could mean the difference between the rest of his life being careful, or a cure.
Thank you again for your support!!!
Thanks so very much for the support of Cure JM! We should never lose another life to juvenile Myositis, and this grant could help find a cure to help My daughter morgan and all often other JM kids and families we have met along this journey we did not choose to take. This disease robs kids of a childhood and unfortunately robs too many young people of life itself. Thanks so much! Please vote! http://tinyurl.com/click2curejm
Click – Vote – CURE JM! http://www.curejm.org I voted in honor of my daughter’s brave 5-year battle and in memory of the beautiful young lives claimed by this disease & its complications. 100% of grant monies are devoted to Juvenile Myositis (JM) research. Thank you so much for your support, Dr. Gregg!
So that, one day, children might never suffer & die from JM!
Vote now. Save lives. http://www.curejm.org. I voted for my 4 year old who is the bravest kid I know.
Vote for Cure JM:
Vote for Cure JM so we might find a cure.
Vote for Cure JM So we never loose another precious kid to this disease.
Vote for Cure JM so my son never again asks me why he got sick.
Vote for Cure JM so my son never again asks me if he is doing to die.
Thank you for your support, Dr. Gregg!
It’s so wonderful of you to help spread the word about Cure JM and the Chase grant. I hope many of your readers will take a moment to help these kids! Thank you so so much.
Thank you for spreading the word about Cure JM and our chance at a Chase grant! It would take your readers less than a minute, and could make a huge difference in the lives of children afflicted with JM. My sweet 5 year old daughter among them! Thank you thank you thank you!
Thank you so much for spreading the word on voting for Cure JM Foundation. My daughter has been battling Juvenile dermatomyositis for almost 2 two years now. I pray for the day with better treatments and hopefully a cure.
While it isn’t official yet, the voting for the Chase Community Giving 2012 program has closed and it appears that CureJm will receive $50,000!! Not the top prize, but every penny helps get them closer to a finding a cure for these kids.
I’m sure I speak for all the JM moms (& dads) and kids when I offer sincere thanks to all who took time to vote.