One of the things that I have been considering lately is not only what the future holds for medical transcriptionists, but how our jobs may change. In a recent article that I have written, I tried to fast-forward into the future and see what might be happening in the area of healthcare documentaiton. Here is a little excerpt from that article that will be published soon.
The year is 2017: In breaking healthcare news today, leading healthcare documentation administrators (HDAs) have made yet another contribution in the area of helping to save lives.
Today, the situation was different but a life was saved because of the swift action by the trained and credentialed HDAs involved. A cutting-edge procedure for graphite-composite complete spinal replacement, recently developed by Amastep Aheadforu, MD where patients can come in for a complete or partial spinal replacement and go home within 24 hours. This has been a lifesaver for patients with chronic back pain with bone or disk conditions, hemiplegia and quadriplegia.
In the surgical case today, the patient's chart contained 2 discrepancies. One was in the H&P stating first that the patient had no history of heart disease and yet in the past medical history it stated that the patient was status post MI. Bringing this to the attention of the surgeon before the procedure began, the HDA alerted him and a cardiology consultant was asked to be on stand-by, just in case, also adjustments were made to allow considerations for the patient who indeed was on blood thinners. The second item found was that the patient’s last labs showed borderline diabetes type 2 in a post-menopausal female. The HDA very alert to the fact that this patient was a middle-aged male, brought that also to the attention of the surgeon in real time....
Now although we don't have spine-replacement surgery yet, and smart cards are not in place universally, we do have the skills and knowledge to do the things mentioned in this article. Even though it takes place in the future, there will be opportunities for us to leverage our expertise in helping to ensure that all patient records contain the right information and that discrepancies are corrected.
In the AHDI "Have You Read Your Medical Record" campaign, bringing awareness to the general public about access to and the information contained in each medical record is extremely important, and the message needs to be carried on. As the EHR evolves, the proliferation of healthcare data will be significant and if 1 or 2 or 5 things are incorrect, it can have life-threatening consequences.
Our experience helps us be the ideal candidates to help ensure that this information is taken care of in real time for every patient. What are your thoughts on this potential future for us? Do you have other ideas suggestions that you would like to discuss?
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