The promises of: enhanced multi-disciplinary communication, streamlined processes, increased accuracy and decreased costs - all provided by electronic health records (EHR) - has been looming on the horizon for decades. Too numerous and convoluted, it’s impossible to pinpoint or articulate what are the specific barriers to implementation, but they seem to have been overcome at least at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) as they roll out their new EHR system aptly titled: “MyChart” (catchy, huh?)
Like anything new, it takes time to develop, launch, teach and ultimately master such an undertaking. CINJ is clearly all-in on this embrace of the future. As my luck would have it (said the guy with cancer; who also always manages to get behind the neediest shopper in the checkout line at the grocery store), my monthly session at the clinic happened to coincide with the system-wide “Go Live” date of MyChart. The experience gave new meaning to the word ‘patient’ - not the usage referring to sick humans but the waiting/calmness(?) reference.
The always-professional nursing staff at the clinic, supported by an army of developers, technicians and big wigs from the software company, valiantly and sometimes painfully went through every step in the flow from: initial intake (printing the disposable barcode bracelet that is used to identify, and bill me), to labeling and tracking the six vials of my blood work (usual collection), to the eventual administration of the treatment that I came for (a shot of Darzalex in the tummy - injected by a human being and not a robot; thankfully) - and ALL steps in between. They apologized profusely (and completely unnecessarily), as the techs taught them how to fish.
Once all of the kinks are worked out here at CINJ, no doubt EHR will ultimately fulfill the promise for the entire RWJBarnabas Health "parent" system (NJ's largest). But if you haven’t encountered this new acronym as of yet, get used to it - as apparently the future is upon us and one more computer application has found its way into another aspect of our daily lives. Like so many evolving realities of the digital age: can’t live with it, can’t live without it (“shruggie” emoji).
