Blessings of Technology

Last night I was pondering about how technology has improved our lives. I know that most of you have grown up with technology, and don't remember what life was like before we had such marvelous tools to help us. I was on call last night and had to call in a prescription for a patient. When I first started practice 25 years ago, I would have to call the pharmacy. The pharmacist would answer the phone, and write the prescription on a piece of paper with a pencil! Then the patient would go to the pharmacy and pick up the prescription. Last night I had finished my charts. The clinic was closed and my pager went off. I called the patient who happened to be a patient of mine. She was calling regarding her daughter. They had just returned from Columbia where they went to visit family. The day after she returned home she began vomiting and could not stop. She was worried that she had picked up something serious in Columbia. I told her that most of the infections from foreign countries were similar to ours, and she probably had a stomach virus. Other infections are possible though. I suggested that I call her in a prescripotion to stop the vomiting, and that she come to the office in the morning if she was not any better. She said she used Walgreen's Pharmacy in Kaysville. Since I was sitting at my computer in my office, I decided to use the EMR (Electronic Medical Record) to enter the prescription and then have the computer fax it to the pharmacy. I opened the patient search box, and entered her name. I hit search, and it brought up the patient. I entered a new encounter for a phone call, and went to the medication module. This takes about fifteen seconds to load. I clicked on "prescribe New" and a box appeared in which I entered "Phenergan". This brought up a list of phenergan products, i.e tablets, IV infusion, and suppositories. I double clicked on 25 mg suppository and the computer entered it into the patient's medications list (which is quite short since she is only 17 years old.) I then entered quantity "4" and refills "0". I then clicked fax. A box opened, where I entered the name of the Pharmacy "Walgreens" and entered search. I list of about 20 Walgreens Pharmacies appeared. I scrolled down and clicked once on the one in Kaysville, and then clicked on "Select". Then I clicked "Fax". The box closed, and the letter "F" appeared next to the prescription in her medication list indicating that the prescription had been faxed. Twenty minutes later I was on my way home when my pager went off. I called and it was the patient's mother. She was at Walgreen's, calling on her cell phone, and asked if I had called in the prescription. I said no, I had faxed it. She was talking to the pharmacist. They told her that they had not received a fax. After 5 minutes of discussion between me, the mother and the pharmacist, she told me I would have to give them a verbal order. I was talking to the mother on her cell phone. I asked if she would pass her cell phone to the pharmacist. The pharmacist said I would have to call the pharmacy on their line. I asked her to give me the phone number, which she did. I then called Walgreen's pharmacy. "Hello, thank you for calling your Walgreen's Pharmacy located at 210 North Main Street in Kaysviile" their computer said. "Our store is open until ten o'clock tonight. For pharmacy, press one". I pressed one. "To leave a refill request press one. If you are a physician, or a physician's office, press two." I pressed two. "To leave a refill, or a new prescription press one. To speak to our pharmacist, press zero." I pressed zero. "Pharmacist" I was speaking to a live person. I gave her the prescription information, and she said thank-you. I was done. Now, isn't that better than 25 years ago, when the pharmacist actually answered the phone, and wrote down the prescription on a piece of paper with a pencil? I certainly think so. I am interested to learn how technology has imporved your life. Email me your experiences with technology. Our lives are so much better with these things is the middle of everything. When I was a young man, stores closed about 5 or 6 o'clock st night. Banks closed at three so they could do their books. When we came home at 5, we had to either go outside and play, or eat dinner together, or sit down and watch television together. There were no malls, no late night department stores. You could not run to the store for groceries. I remember coming home from a date at 11 o'clock one night, and trying to find a gas station to fill up my car. None were open. I had to siphon some gas out of Dad's Ford to get to work in the morning. (I worked at ZCMI at 3 a.m.) Our lives were so less complex, so less busy that we were forced to talk to one another whether we liked each other or not. Life was less busy, and less stressful. Technology is helpful, but sometimes makes life more complicated. Love, Dad p.s. check out this video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrhS6Gj8-QA