Just lately I attempted to log onto my hospital system’s digital well being report to test on the standing of a affected person. This affected person is aged, severely mentally incapacitated, and being cared for by physicians on the neurology service. Her son, a working towards doctor on the identical facility, had not acquired a return cellphone name from any of the inpatient physicians and wished to know why his mother wanted a lumbar puncture (spinal faucet). As a member of the employees and her outpatient doctor, I tried to log into the system and reply his questions or at the least discover the contact info he wanted to discover a doctor to speak to.
My local people hospital has just lately signed on to be a member of a giant regional not-for-profit hospital system. Previously, I’d entry the hospital web site and enter my person ID and password to log in. Now I need to first enter the well being system database utilizing a number of ranges of authentication, which proves it’s me and never some mercenary attempting to introduce a virus or kidnap the system. If I enter my info accurately, a immediate is distributed to an app on my cell phone. I need to entry that app, after which, if I enter every thing accurately, a brand new sign-in window seems from my native hospital.
On this event, I miraculously carried out that process flawlessly, and all of the sudden the login display appeared. I entered a special Consumer ID and password and clicked on the “log in “tab. A brand new window appeared asking if I had downloaded a Citrix receiver. I clicked on the tab that mentioned, “I’ve already downloaded a Citrix receiver.” It replied that it couldn’t detect the receiver. So, I selected the choice to “obtain Citrix receiver.” A brand new window appeared. I clicked on it, and all of the sudden I used to be contained in the system.
I used my mouse to click on on the affected person digital well being report portal I all the time used, and a brand new query popped up asking what software program app I needed to open this technique with. It gave me a alternative of six totally different ones. I didn’t know what to do, so I referred to as the native hospital cellphone line and requested the operator to attach me with “Anna on the hospital Data Know-how (IT) assist desk.” I used to be advised somewhat brusquely that she didn’t know every worker’s particular person cellphone extension, however she would join me to the overall quantity.
The subsequent factor I knew, I used to be advised by an automatic system that I used to be linked to the overall well being system IT helpline and quantity 16 in line. The anticipated wait time was 90 minutes. I hoped they might give me the choice to depart a cellphone quantity and they might name me, however none was given. I hung up and returned to the pc display that had given me a alternative of six choices. I selected quantity six, and the display was unintelligible numbers and letters. Clearly, I had made the fallacious alternative.
At that time, I stop. I turned off the pc, picked up the cellphone, and dialed the hospital cellphone quantity. When the automated attendant answered, I pressed zero to talk to a stay operator. I used to be linked with a special message and once more pressed zero for an operator. A message got here on saying all of the operators had been busy with calls. A number of seconds later (which felt like minutes), an operator answered. I recognized myself and requested to be linked with the neurology ICU. A human being answered the cellphone. I once more recognized myself and requested for the nurse caring for that affected person. She got here to the cellphone, was nice {and professional}, answered all my questions, and promised to ask the affected person’s in-hospital attending doctor to name the affected person’s son, who’s a physician.
What ought to have been, at greatest, a five-minute operation took at the least 25 minutes, and I’m nonetheless left with having to succeed in somebody tomorrow to discover ways to do away with this system that didn’t work and select this system that can work.
Once I used to make hospital rounds earlier than the millennium, I’d spend 10- 20 minutes with a affected person and some minutes documenting the go to within the chart. I now perceive why hospital-based physicians complain that they’ve not more than 5 minutes to spend on the bedside whereas spending 15 to twenty minutes in entrance of the pc display attempting to doc what they did throughout the 5 minutes on the bedside. There needs to be a greater means!
Steven Reznick is an inner drugs doctor and might be reached at Boca Raton Concierge Doctor.
