In the coming months, you may notice something different about your visit to the doctor at Loyola University Health System (LUHS). Rather than writing notes, the physician will be typing notes into a computer. It may take you and your doctor some time to get used to this new style of working, but LUHS has put computers in the exam rooms and near every patient bed in the hospital for a very important reason: to improve the quality of health care we provide. Computer technology will help us improve care in ways that we never could with paper records. Starting this spring, LUHS began a process to eliminate paper medical records altogether. LUHS is a leader among medical centers nationwide in adopting a fully interactive medical record that is linked to service areas throughout the health system, such as the pharmacy and billing. This new system will offer many benefits to you and your physician; the most immediate benefit will be better access to information.
Your medical record will be available immediately whenever and wherever your physician needs it. For example, if you see a physician in Maywood, but your primary care physician is in Hickory Hills, there will be no need to send that record by courier and no waiting time for that chart to arrive.
Your physicians will get information about your care, such as test results and communication with other physicians, more quickly and easily through electronic inboxes. A physician won't have to get back to the office and work through piles of lab reports to find your results and won't need to track down other doctors by phone to consult on your care.
The new electronic medical record will be complete and legible, reducing the chance for error due to handwriting. Every physician you see at LUHS will have the complete details of your care, which will help them reduce the possibility of asking you for information that you have already given at another visit or unnecessarily repeating a test that was already performed.
The new system also will offer intelligent features to help physicians in their day-to-day work. For example, when your physician writes a prescription, the computer will automatically recognize any drug interactions with other medications you are taking.
Your primary care physician - whether that doctor is at LUHS or elsewhere - will get immediate feedback about your visit to a LUHS specialist through a Web site just for referring physicians. The system is much more efficient and effective than the old method of dictating a note that is sent through the mail and sometimes delayed in the pile of paperwork physicians attend to daily. Better communication among your doctors translates into better, more coordinated care for you.
Computerized records are more safe and secure than paper records that are shuffled from place to place. Privacy is assured since access to information is limited to people with authorized passwords. The system is backed up with duplicate hardware in multiple locations to protect from a power outage or any type of damage.
You can be more involved in your own health care with some exciting features the system offers. Physicians can use the computer to create charts that help you discuss your health status. For example, the doctor can generate a chart that shows how your blood pressure has changed over time. After your visit, the physician can print a handout that summarizes the visit, your medications and instructions. You will even be able to look at parts of your medical record through a patient Web site.
I am very excited about the potential benefits of this new system. The computer technology will enable us to improve the quality of health care, the convenience and efficiency of health care, your communication with your physician and your physicians' communication with each other.
Implementing this system is a gigantic undertaking that will take many months and involve every single LUHS staff member who has access to medical records. Please be patient as we make this transition. I think you will be pleased with the results.
Stephen Slogoff, M.D.
Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs
Loyola University Health System
Dean, LUC Stritch School of Medicine
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