E-Records

Yesterday, I had the privilege to be a reliever in Health First Clinic in Shaw Blvd, Pasig for the first time. Just like in any typical clinic, there were consultations and pre-employment medical examinations to be conducted. I was surprised to learn that they strictly use electronic medical records (or E-Records for short) from queueing of patients to charting/documentation to laboratory/ancillary procedure requests to dispensing medications and billing of consultation charges. Thank goodness, I don't have to call out the patient's name because all I had to do was call the operator and page for the patient. Since the clinic has its own pharmacy, I had to enter electronically the medicines I will prescribe then the pharmacists will hand it to the patient. Unless the medication is not available, that's when I do it manually and the old-fashioned way. The same goes for laboratory requests - just type it in the computer, instruct the patient to go to the laboratory. Of course, laboratory results can be viewed in their intranet as well. Not surprising, the x-ray plates can also be visualised in the computer without going out of the room. Previous consultations are also stored in the database as well. Convenient isn't it?

How I wish all clinics have this kind of system in order to avoid clutter, piles of papers/charts in one side of the room, occupying a big space. Imagine the trouble of pulling out 1 chart when you have so many stacked up, piled up.

On the downside, hopefully they have a generator if in case there's power failure. And a back-up system if the system hangs or the computer has been infiltrated by a virus. For our mentors who are not used to paper-less system, this could pose as a challenge for them.