Finally, Electronic Medical Records Class Completed!

Well I finally got through electronic medical records training on March 24^th after the original class was cancelled four weeks ago. But first I had to wake up at 5 A.M. even though the class wasn’t until 8 o’clock, so I could fit in a slightly shortened workout on the spinning bike. The class itself, for me, wasn’t too complicated, but maybe I’m only saying that because there were instructors there to guide us. In a couple of days, I may have already forgotten the steps to access those medical records.

 I was wondering why they scheduled a whole day class for it and when we started I found out why. Despite the proliferation of computers and access to the internet in homes and workplaces, would it surprise you to know that there are still a lot of people (probably mostly middle aged and above) who don’t even know what a double click, a right click, or a left click is, much more even opening internet explorer? And that’s not even mentioning what maximize, minimize, or close a window are. So that was the first part of the class which took slightly more than an hour. I’m glad the instructors were very patient in teaching the more computer challenged among us. That didn’t bode too well for the next two sections we had to learn and those were entering data into the computer using a dedicated electronic medical records program, then learning to use a similar technique while using a hand held device similar to the scanners grocery and store workers use to scan products. If one already uses an Iphone or Android device, the interface is pretty similar and you have to use a stylus (although your fingertips would work as well in most cases where the icons are not too tiny). The device also has a numeric and alphabet keyboard a la Kindle, although not in QWERTY layout which makes it slightly more difficult for experienced texters, but maybe easier for non-typists. And just like the store devices, it has a bar code scanner on top to be used to scan patient’s ID bracelets and medications (to make sure the right patient gets the right medication). If I lost you at this point and even bored you, my apologies for the detailed description, but I find devices somewhat fascinating. I just hope that we learn how to use them quickly and I’m sure that by just mere repetition, we would get the hang of it soon, and maybe even find some shortcuts as we learn to navigate the menus that the program has to offer. If not, well then at least the newbies now know how to right click, left click, and double click the mouse. With a little cheese, the mouse just might cooperate.

Well, after all that description, I found a picture of the hand held device. Would you believe how much that thing costs? About $1,600 each! I hope no one drops it.

I thought I finished writing about this, but I remembered asking one of the instructors at the class if the electronic medical records were also accessible from home and she showed me the item to click on the company website. So I was messing around with the website in the evening and was indeed able to access the EMR and thus was able to practice what we learned earlier in the day. High five to me!!!

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