Recently i went along with one of my relatives for a consultation . I had taken an "appointment " two days back because even as a doctor i dont like to barge into queues . It was a high end clinic . To my dismay though i had reached there at 845 as instructed to finish the registration process the actual consultation took place not at 9 am . It was ok for me as in the indian scenario things dont work as clockwork . But i was sad to see another patient who had come from far away almost in tears . The clerk at the reception was telling her she may have to wait for hours even though she had got "appointment " at 9 am too . It seems they give multiple appointments at 9 am . This is what i heard and added with the overall rudeness of the clerk i decided to avoid the clinic if possible in the future .
Why i narrated this incident is because in this era of internet and technology its sad to see technology grossly underutilised . Currently we have softwares even made by our own entrepreneurs customised for indian setups which can make many of the processes automatic or semiautomatic and patient friendly . We all know most of us are using ATMs these days hassle free for getting our money while just a few years back we used to waste hours to even get our money . Similarly information technology and these softwares make many of these processes more efficient and patient friendly .
One of the reasons patients avoid going to a doctor is to avoid the big unruly crowd outside many clinics . These days with everyone almost having a mobile phone there are systems in which we can be intimated just before our turn happens in the clinic. Not only the stress can be avoided but even communicable disease transmission can be prevented this way .
Practice management softwares is one of the aspects of medical IT (information technology ) and i will be writing more on these topics soon including artificial intelligence in clinical decision support . Watch this blogspace over the next few weeks and feel free to comment .
