If I didn’t love computers and hate working on paper I’d never have agreed to go on a laptop for work. It was a long, frustrating learning process and though I get paid a little more it doesn’t equal the extra time. It’s not lost on me that having the nurse do data entry is double-duty.

The benefit for me is that I can bring up information about my patient about prior visits so there’s continuity and nothing is missed.

A Harvard Study shows that— stop the presses– hospitals are not saving money by going to computers.

How is that possible?

The problem “is mainly that computer systems are built for the accountants and managers and not built to help doctors, nurses and patients,” the report’s lead author, Dr. David Himmelstein, said in an interview with Computerworld.

Duh. Twenty-first century technology won’t remedy nineteenth century tunnel vision. I look forward to the day when my computer will have the information I need to care for my patient, organized and up front instead of on the back pages behind the insurance info. I hope I live long enough to see it. Otherwise I may have to resort to sticky notes in a file folder. I still have some carbon paper.