SAN DIEGO--The janitor bemoaned his assignment to sweep up piles of medical charts littering the floor. He finally gave up; lay down to take a nap; and received a visit from the wizard, Merlin, who detailed an appealing view of a future with no paper records at all.
So began a day-long multimedia presentation on the "Vision of the Future"--a look at health care in the year 2010--staged at the Medical Records Institute's Toward an Electronic Patient Record '96 conference May 13. FPs dominated the cast, leading the janitor--family physician Allen Wenner, MD--to explore health care in the patient's home, physician's office, and institution.
Dr. Wenner coordinated the presentation, working with other participants to plan the entire show via the Internet. He said the program was designed to "make docs think outside the box."
Dressed in Star Trek shirts and other costumes, the "actors" portrayed a future rich with technological opportunities and creative ways to enhance patient care. They interspersed lectures with colorful skits: examining a patient via a home TV monitor, studying lab results on a laptop computer during a round of golf, working on a computer in a hospital room, and tapping into the Internet to provide resources for a noncompliant patient.
"Cleaning up chart paperwork 30 percent of the time makes a doctor a janitor," said Dr. Wenner. "The electronic medical record is the most powerful tool that family doctors will have in my lifetime."
Allen Wenner, MD, of Columbia, SC, plays a janitor in a skit and takes a break from sweeping to declare his frustration with paper medical records.
Merlin, portrayed by Jonathan Peck, PhD, of Alexandria, VA, uses wizardry and laptops to take a peek at health care in the year 2010.
If you're a parent in the year 2010 and your youngster has a sore throat, what will you do? There's no need to rush to a clinic or emergency room. As seen here, you'll call up your family physician, who will examine your child from an office using scopes attached to your TV monitor. John Bachman, MD, of Rochester, MN (on TV screen), examines Ross Goldman of San Diego while his "dad," David Brannen of San Diego, helps by positioning the scope.
Story and photos by Sharon Dickinson Dent,
Associate
Editor
"Computers and Family Practice" contents
FP Report, July 1996 headlines
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