In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
Mary Hawking, having pressed the wrong button, replied-to-my reply
direct. Now we're back in public....
Mary...
> As far as I can see, most GPs only buy computers if they can make a
> buisiness case for it (they cost an arm and both legs) - and use them
> for money and time saving functions - registration,claims,repeat
> prescribing etc. Don't be mislead by GP-UK - we're the exception.
Alan...
> ... get into looking at fresh areas of benefit that have become possible
> by folk such as you using consulting room modules?
Mary....
> Takes twice as long in consultation.I don't know how long I'll be able
> to afford the luxury!
But Mary, you wouldn't be using the computer during consultation,
especially if it takes twice as long, unless there was a least a believe
in benefit. Or are you dafter than you sound?!
Mary...
> What benefits are you talking about? I enjoy things like the hayfever
> thread - but it's an anti burnout tactic - I work 67 hours a week
> (shortest working week since I qualified!) and there comes a time when
> the only benefit sems to be to the executive.
Yet surely the hay fever thread was an excellent example of real
benefits, and not just a wee interest. All you folk casually giving the
precise number of folk with diagnosis X getting treatment Y. At the
touch of a button, more or less. How long/ what cost to get someone to
plough through manual records to answer the same question?
Of course, this is not directly attributable to recording during
consultation. Just to recording. But is not cheaper and more accurate
for you to record directly rather than to employ someone to enter your
scribbles into the machine? An empirical question!
And the benefit? Quality of patient care. (BTW, I think that by-product
production of clinical audit information is a relatively trivial benefit
compared to things like:
- intelligent prompts and reminders
- structured record schema for particular conditions
- enabling better communication
- patients perception that they're being taken seriously!
- making a sometimes boring job more interesting!
Problem is that there's no direct financial reward to the GP doing this
kind of thing, outside of a few iffy targets. Reward in heaven, and all
that. So a good reason for quantifying quality-type benefits might
therefore be in anticipation of reimbursement scheme which DOES recognise
the value of keen folk who use the system during consultation.
Maybe all 400 GP-UKers could design and carry out a mega-study.
Objective? Getting rich as well as famous!
Alan Hyslop
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|