Hi Christina,
This is just a very immediate 'first' response from across the pond, written from viewpoint a retired doc, non psych....
Firstly I would say it is worrying and sad to think this is being rushed in on 'economical'!! grounds. Whoahh..
Alarm bells sound immediately given the enormous scale and the fact that this will be , by necessity a monopolising hugely juicy carrot for some IT system and Software network to secure. Dollar signs must be jumping in to some business high flyers' heads , and patient' best interests won't be in their consideration to capture this for sure.
Because to work across the States and not have hitches, this will as far as I am aware need to be a single hugely powerful (but so dangerously vulnerable?) monopoly....which system to choose??? Even from a benign standpoint, where is the evidence of a prototype to check out teething troubles and not make costly 'mistakes' that become quckly outdated given the pressure of the quoted time scale.
Conversely, I have some positive experience on rapidly communicable records, aiding patient care and safety, albeit on a much smaller scale, which I shall try and post separately, but you are right , there are huge concerns here, Christina,
Best wishes
Chris
UK
Great post, Christina. When I read the first paragraph of this post I agreed with Obama that electronic medical records is the way to go, however, when you brought up examples of people being discriminated against because of their mental illness, I do not want electronic medical records. I agree with you and could see there being confidentiality issue.
Ashley
I agree that at first glance that it looks impressive,progressive way to go.As I recall they did some of this stuff in Britain,resulting in pushing the panic button when the records of millions of patients were "shared".Anything digital can be somehow accessed by someone you might not to have access to.Mental health information seems to be especially fragile to get into the wrong hands.I have been in the system for a long while.Being from Canada we all deal with one health card number for accessing our medical services, in order to be covered by our medicare.Don't kid yourself that, over the years, I haven't been dealt with differently in emergency when my health record come up on the screen and they see that I have an anxiety disorder in my file.This has sometimes very much dangerously muddys the water when I have gone in with some completely unrelated problem.There is no way that anyone should be believed when they say that they can assure you that a digital record will always be kept private.I certainly wouldn't want my mental health history somehow in the hands of my employer.
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Reminds me of a doctor I used to have. Once he found out I had sz, then any health complaint I had was "all in my head." I felt I had legitimate concerns because I was obese (which he never mentioned,) had high cholesterol, GERD, and a sister who died of a liver disease that sisters are known to develop. I wanted him to be aware of my health needs and treat me accordingly, which he never did. He also started pawning me off on a specialist every time I saw him for an illness.
So I started seeing a second doctor who always assured me that "everything is fine," which to me meant again "it is all in your head."
It sook me a third try to find a wonderful doctor and nurse practitioner who saw me as a patient, not a schizophrenic. They found hypothyroidism, high blood pressure, and treated me with meds that brought these under control. Plus they check my blood every 6 months for a variety of values and call immediately when they get the results. They even do my "well woman" visits every year. I really appreciate their taking me seriously. So now I don't hesitate to reveal my concerns.
Carolyn
HI Carolyn,
I'm glad you found the right doctor and nurse practitioner who take you seriously.
It's true we have to work twice as hard as the so-called normals to be taken seriously.
Best,
Christina