Knowing we practise good medicine: Implementing the electronic medical record in family practice -- Dawes and Chan 56 (1): 15 --

Knowing we practise good medicine: Implementing the electronic medical record in family practice -- Dawes and Chan 56 (1): 15 -- Canadian Family Physician: "We aim to be good physicians, providing safe and effective care to our patients. But is that really the case? Family physicians deliver care through the process of our practices and the method of our consultations. To understand what sort of doctors we are, we need to evaluate both aspects of care. Your initial response is probably scepticism or disbelief. You don’t have the time or the energy, and even if you did—so what?

We would be concerned if half our patients with hypertension had systolic blood pressures greater than 160 mm Hg; if our patients with suspected herpes zoster had no way of seeing us within 3 days; if we ordered a blood test, urine test, or x-ray scan at every consultation; if we didn’t listen to patients; or if we finished every consultation by pushing a prescription at the patient. We don’t believe these things occur, but how can we be certain? To make sure we provide good quality medical care, we need electronic records."