Thinkstock
Re: “Why doctors quit,” May 31 Charles Krauthammer column.
Charles Krauthammer wrote about the issues doctors have with electronic records. I would like to address the complaint that doctors now spend 43 percent of their time entering documentation. This does not have to be the case.
As a professional medical transcriptionist for over 42 years, I have certainly seen major changes with the adoption of electronic health records and the mandate to “go paperless.” The developers of the electronic systems sold the doctors on the concept that the documentation would be effortless and would save them untold amounts in transcription costs.
What they have done, in reality, is turned the physicians into transcriptionists and data entry clerks, requiring them to spend time typing in their notes rather than dictating them as they have done for years.
Fortunately, we still have a number of physicians who still use our transcription services to enter information into their patientap electronic records, allowing them to spend that precious time with their patients and, yes, even allowing them to see and listen to more patients in a day.
Trish Merrill, Aurora
This letter was published in the June 6 edition.
