Patient Safety Blog - a Good Read!

Dan Frith

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

I was killing some time recently reading through articles on the Internet and ran across the Patient Safety Blog. The blog is written by Ken Farbstein who advises patients and their families on living longer, healthier lives, and preventing medical errors.

His most recent post is on electronic patient records and how they can save lives!

Nationally, only about 20% of physician offices are computerized; the rest still rely on notoriously inefficient paper charts. But computers are an easy benchmark for quality. They can help a doctor not just keep track of files, but also send out prescriptions accurately and quickly, get lab results inserted into the record automatically and be reminded what the scientific evidence suggests is the next best step with a patient.

In closing, Farbstein concludes that when choosing a physician ask whether s/he uses an electronic medical record to look up lab results, allow lookup of your record during evenings and weekends when you are sick, reduce medication errors, foster email communication with patients, and generally join the 21st century. Damn good advice!

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.