Sometimes good intentions can have unintended consequences. An example of this exists currently in the practice of medicine. Government regulations that are required of doctors may have good intentions, but their result is having negative consequences in the care of patients. As a physician, I know this firsthand and can give testimony to its truth.
Recently I took my mother to her primary care physician in Santa Rosa. My mother has early stages of Alzheimer’s so I accompanied her to her appointment. Only because I’m on the inside of the industry would I have noticed what occurred. At no time during the entire appointment did the physician put his hands on my mother. He never touched her. Not even a hand shake. What I did notice was he only put his hands on the keyboard of his computer.
I’m not being critical of her doctor; on the contrary, I totally sympathize with him. Both my mom’s doctor and I are at the mercy of what the government requires us to do on the computer. Working on the computer can be a distraction to good patient care.
Personally what I try to do with every patient is shake their hand and look at them in the eye at every encounter. In addition, I do the best I can to explain to my patients the computer demands that the government has put on me.
I am not a rookie when it comes to technology. However, the government regulations currently put on me are excessive. For the last 14 years, I have operated my practice with computers in every treatment room. I was doing electronic health records before the government mandated it.
My workflow was highly efficient and productive. That is no longer the case. There is so much data entry that I cannot keep up. This honest admission is from someone who knows what he is doing. If I can’t do it, I feel sorry for most other doctors in this country. It is a fact that many doctors will stop practicing medicine due to the impersonal requirements of technology.
I went to medical school to be a doctor, but the government wants me to be an information technology specialist. And even though I have had technology in my practice all these years, the current demands are overwhelming. It is creating a situation that is too complex to manage.
There is a new field of academic study about complexity. The study of complexity has been applied to business, medicine, agriculture, technology, education and government. What has been discovered is that the more complex a system is made, the less productive it becomes. The more a system requires of input, the less the output.
In the case of medicine, productivity is measured by the healing of patients. Therefore, the more complex you make the delivery of medicine; the fewer patients will ultimately heal. This is the law of unintended consequences. It is the negative side effect of a good intention. Complexity in patient care leads to distraction which fosters mistakes, chaos and confusion.
Despite this challenge, I tell my patients I’m going to do the best I can. What more can I do? It is an unfortunate reality that I must put data into the computer and take care of people simultaneously. When I explain the situation to my patients there is gracious understanding. For that I am thankful.
Recently a patient could see that I was distressed by these regulations. Seeing my upset at the system, she brought to me a prayer to help me cope with the situation. It’s a very familiar prayer we have all heard.
The prayer is, “Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
This was a special moment for me because my patient was communicating to me that she understood. She was forgiving and accepting of my best attempt to take care of her. This one small gesture, gives me the strength to persevere.
Matthew McQuaid, DPM is a board certified foot surgeon practicing in Lakeport. He has a particular interest in Mind/Body medicine and its impact on healing. He is an award winning author and teacher. For more information please call (707) 263-3727 and visit www.drmcquaid.com.
