A great rant by Scalpel about his new, non-user friendly EMR that was clearly designed by a software engineer, not a physician:
A simple x-ray cannot be ordered without answering multiple drop-down questions:
1) is the patient allergic to iodine? (no, but I’m not giving any iodinated contrast; it’s a foot X-ray)
2) does the patient have a working IV? (no, but he doesn’t need one; it’s only a foot X-ray, dammit!!)
3) did the patient drink contrast? (no, does any patient EVER drink contrast for an X-ray of a stubbed toe? AAARRRGH!!!)
We also get lots of WARNING ALERTS like this:
1) The pain level for this patient (1/10) is severely above normal!!!!!
2) The systolic blood pressure for this patient (139) is severely above normal!!!!!
3) Severe drug interaction!!!!!!! (insert any of several drugs which we give together all the time without any problem)
Incredible that hospitals still purchase ridiculously awful software like this in 2007.