Home » Readers Write » Currently Reading:

Readers Write: Through a Different Lens

June 21, 2013 Readers Write 3 Comments

Through a Different Lens
By Kathy Krypel

6-21-2013 8-12-47 PM

In the end, it was hepatitis. Not some organized alphabetized version, but a quick, no-holds-barred attack from inside that would give me 10 days in the hospital and a look at healthcare from a very different perspective.

I am a clinician. I am also a healthcare IT expert. And now, I am a patient.

My induction into patient life was abrupt and unexpected. I, who had not been hospitalized in 30 years, was afflicted with sepsis in very short order. The trip to the emergency department, the 103 degree fever, and the 10 days spent in the hospital are all a bit of a blur.

Looking at it weeks later, from the slow recovery side of things, I offer these observations.

The Clinicians

I don’t know if they still teach something called ‘bedside manner’, but my experience with clinicians varied significantly. On the high end of the scale were the infectious disease doctor and hospitalist who coordinated care, modeled teamwork, and went out of their way to explain tests and procedures to me and my family. On the low end was the consulting physician, who referred to me as the ‘bile duct in 52’ in a hallway conversation that I happened to overhear.

The nursing, lab, radiology, and transport staff will forever have my gratitude for the way they fiercely protected my modesty (even when I was too sick to care), kept me informed about test results, and treated me and my family with utmost kindness.

The Electronic Medical Record

Ironically, I actually helped build the EMR and train users at the hospital where I was admitted. It was astonishing and very impressive to see it in action. I was able to see how quickly blood test results came back, watch the multiple ultrasounds and CT scans, and even observe my own liver biopsy.

It was fascinating, but reminded me that the EMR is only a tool that offers safeguards and suggestions. The physicians on my case were dogged in their pursuit of this infection, but even with the best of electronic records, they could not grow a blood culture faster or obtain instantaneous results on lab draws. These just take time. As good as an EMR is, it can help with the diagnostic process, but cannot magically make it faster.

The Patient

At the end of the day, it’s the human things that I will remember most – the infectious disease doctor who held my hand in the ED, the hospitalist who sat on the end of my bed for 30 minutes and explained what was happening and said that she would “tell us when to worry,” and the number of nurses who looked me in the eye and said, ‘I am so sorry this is happening.”

Despite advances in healthcare information technology, there’s still an inherent need for the personal connection – the relationship. That is the vehicle for healing. As the industry tackles the patient engagement challenge, the relationship – the patient experience – truly is at the center.

Kathy Krypel, LICSW, PMP is a master advisor for Aspen Advisors.



HIStalk Featured Sponsors

     

Currently there are "3 comments" on this Article:

  1. I love reading about these “real life experiences with HIT” although I’m sorry that you have to go through the pain and agony to let the rest of us know
    how it really works!!

  2. Rudeness and incivility at the bedside is inexcusable. And if one thinks about it, there should be no need to formally teach it, other than maybe in middle school. That said, I would urge you and other patients, not to take offence at the “gallbag in S64” type characterization that you may overhear from clinical working spaces (that are not meant to be patient facing). We all, including the good guys, to which group I like to think I belong (Hospitalist), use this short hand. I meet dozens of new people with new names every clinical day. I do memorize patient (and family) names (put them in working memory) for the moments of my bedside interaction, but putting all these revolving door names in long term memory is simply impractical. Hence the functional/anatomic/pathophysiologic handle we attach to patients for all the informal clinical chatter. It is a memory cheat, nothing more. It is not how we see you or how we think about you. Hope that helps.







Text Ads


RECENT COMMENTS

  1. I think Disingenuous is confused (or simply not aware of how it has been architected). How control of Epic is…

  2. It seems that every innovation in the past 50 years has claimed that it would save money and lives. There…

  3. Well, this is predicting the future, and my crystal ball is cloudy and cracked. But my basic thesis about Meditech?…

  4. RE Judy Faulkner's foundation wishes: Different area, but read up on the Barnes Foundation to see how things work out…

  5. Meditech certainly benefited from Cerner and Allscripts stumbles and before that the failures of ECW and Athena’s inpatient expansions. I…

Founding Sponsors


 

Platinum Sponsors


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold Sponsors


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RSS Webinars

  • An error has occurred, which probably means the feed is down. Try again later.