Opinion
Sticking with paper records for now
LETTER — Posted Oct. 8, 2007
Regarding "EMRs don't guarantee quality care, a review of 50,000 patient records shows" (Article, Aug. 13): In this article, Robert Lamberts, MD, of Evans, Ga., commented, "Would you go to a bank that kept all of their records on paper?"
Banks are allowed to pass their costs on to the customer, medical practitioners are not.
I am not surprised about the study findings that the quality is about the same whether we use paper or electronics. In the late '60s I was taught that computers work by the "garbage in-garbage out" law.
In the end, the technique of record-keeping is not as important as the content.
Until computers don't crash, and aren't hackable, and EMR systems are cheap to buy and usable out of the box without hours of lessons, I will stick to my paper records, thank you.
Ann Ewalt Hamilton, MD, Riverside, Calif.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/10/08/edlt1008.htm.
