I am a family physician in Vancouver. I’ve trained overseas and can quite simply say that by far in BC, the navigating the health system has been frustrating, a big administrative burden, and it has impacted on the quality of care that patients receive.
Continuity of care and access to patient information across one platform is greatly needed. Here are some examples:
1. Access and updating immunization records is duplicative and extremely time consuming:
– For a patient to have their immunizations recorded on the provinicial registry, it requires either E-form submission, an email to the registry, or the patient to submit the record
– None of the current EMRs can directly upload immunization records once recorded to the provincial registry
– I have worked overseas where an entry into the EMR results in an entry into the patient’s electronic health record
– Having to do duplicate entries into the EMR and the e-forms is time consuming, and prone to errors and typo
2. There should be a universal system for referrals
– I’ve worked in a system where referrals to specialists are universal and linked to a unified platform, whether named or to a particular specialized service within the patient’s residential catchment
– In BC, I have wasted many hours of my administrative time to refer patients to specialists – especially Obstetric referrals which get rejected on a regular basis due to unavailability of the obstetrician
– I’ve spent many hours on Pathways to help my patients get the right specialist to be referred to
3. Overload of results from visits to specialists and hospital visits
– As a family physician – I frequently get results from patients ordered by their specialists – and especially in the acute care settings where the results do not require my review
– It adds to the administrative burden to review a result or report that should have been reviewed and actioned by the ordering physician/provider
– In a unified system, these results can be accessible when needed by the non-treating care provider
– It is my duty of care to review results and reports that come to me – but when unecessary – it is essentially duplicative and wastes administrative time
4. Requisition forms/ Referral templates to services in hospital
– EMRs have to download an updated referral forms
– Having a connected system removes:
– duplicate forms and multiple prior versions being uploaded to individual EMRs
– the service that requires these forms will always received the correct version from referrers
There are plenty more similar issues where I strongly believe that a unified system will solve, make healthcare delivery more efficient, and improvements in delivering timely and quality care to patients in the province.