In fact, if my own experience is anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if, during a 12-hour day, patients are lucky if their doctor spends 1 to 1.5 hours total with them. Think long and hard about that statistic, because it's a disaster for the practice of medicine and for our patients. A typical scenario goes something like this: 5 minutes with you and then 20 to 25 minutes navigating an inefficient and cumbersome system to document what's just happened! Interacting with a computer during the actual encounter is even worse, and not appreciated by patients when they see their doctor turning around and looking at a screen every few seconds instead of talking to them.
The answer, however, isn't to take the technology away and go back to the ancient days of pen and paper, but rather to design better and more optimal solutions: with a simple acknowledgment that the best IT of the future will be that which is seen and not heard. Electronic medical records and physician order entry systems that are quick, super easy to use, and properly reconciled with frontline clinical workflow.
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