But with great benefits cones even greater demands. We all will have to stop writing. No more of the sloppy handwriting we are used to. In fact handwriting will soon disappear from the face of the earth. By now, I am sure, you know what I am getting to.

Every Doctor should learn typing. Once in practice you will need to see as many patient as possible in a day. Whether you own your practice or if you are an employed physician, you will be forced to see more patients as Medicare institutes more cuts in reimbursement. These cuts will have ripple effects and will reduce reimbursements in private insurance payments too.

Once we instituted EMR (Electronic Medical Record) in our medical practice, it was a wake up call for me. I started using my two index fingers and struggled to finish my chart. It also slowed me down. Then one of my friends Edward taught my how to use all of my fingers on the keyboard. Over next six months I noticed a dramatic change. I was typing as fast as patients were speaking. By the time the patient left the room the chart was already complete. It was a miracle. It was better than dictating or writing on the chart.

So for all those who are entering residency or into practice, hone your skills in typing. It will serve you well and make your more efficient. Two finger typing is not enough. You should be able to type without looking at the keyboard.

To answer this question, lets rewind our lives way back to the medieval times where the calls were handled by a messenger. There were no telephones, no pagers and of course no cell phones. The doctor on his on call day would not leave his house. A messenger would come to his house to let him know about an emergency. If the doctor had to leave his home, he will leave a trail behind for the messenger to locate him.

Then came the landlines. Now the doctors could be called on landline and summoned to the hospital. But this still did not negate the need for a doctor to be stuck in his house on an on call day. But technology eventually finds solution to everything. So pagers were invented. Pagers were an announcement of freedom for the doctors. They could go anywhere on their on call day and yet could be reached in a matter of beep beep beep. The doctor would then stop whatever he was doing, fine a land phone and call the number.

Then came the cell phones. But they did not get the same welcome as the pagers by the medical community. We decided not to dump our pagers but hang the cell phones next to them. Now we could play golf and still answer our calls from middle of nowhere. 

But in my opinion pagers are a giant waste of time for physicians and those trying to reach them. Would you want me to prove it? Fine! Here is a 10 step process we all follow several times a day:

Step 1: The Beeper Beeps

Step 2: We let out a cry of despair

Step 3: We fumble to get the beeper from its holder on the belt

Step 4: We press the button on the beeper to look at the number

Step 5: We then fumble for the cell phone

Step 6: We dial the number on the beeper, with our eyes zig zagging between the beeper and the cell phone screens

Step 7: We talk to the person on the other line , asking him to find out who paged.

Step 8: We then wait frustratingly for the other person to appear on the phone.

Step 9: We talk to the person who paged us. Finally !

Step 10: We replace the beeper and the cell phone back  into their respective folders.

Why we cannot cut this 10 step ritual of hospital calls to a simple three step process by dumping our pagers and using cell phones? Here is a 3 step process using just cell phone for your calls.

Step 1: The cell phone rings

Step 2: You pick up the cell phone and answer the call

Step 3: Hang up and holster it on your belt.

Life can be easy. Why make it difficult by sticking to old technology. We can save a lot of time by dumping the pagers in favor of cell phones. Whether its the pager or the cell phone, you will have to answer it anyways ! So make it easy on you and the person trying to reach you.

This is a  ‘Change Medicine Series” article of CareerMedicine.com. Here we sound ideas to change common medical practices which should be changed. Do you have any such ideas? Leave us a note.

 This post is republished as this topic is hot on KevinMD

Several times in a  day, physicians find themselves in a situation breaking bad news to the patients. At other times, physicians are informing patients about a preliminary results which needs further testing. And that further testing can lead to a potentially disastrous news. ( Or may be a good news ! ) How should a doctor handle that. One can make an argument that since empathy is a skill not taught in the medical school, may be it is not  a Doctor’s job to comfort their patient. But lets not jump to a conclusion

Before answering this question, lets put ourselves in the patients shoes.

Imagine yourself being taken to a big corporate building (aka hospital). Then you are put into one of the rooms in that big building. You know you cannot leave that building without permission. Then several strangers come into the room and poke needles, take your blood, put cuffs and tubes around you. When you ask them what is going on, they have no clue. They tell you to talk to another stranger (aka doctor) about it. Finally this busy looking stranger comes in to the room. He flaunts his power, tells you the results of a test done on you, casually tells you that further testing may show a diagnosis which can result in your death. Before you could overcome the shock, he leaves the room. You lean  to your family for support but in your heart you know that they cannot help you. The only person who may have the key to your cure was that stranger who had been in the room for 5 seconds. How do you feel at this point !

If you do feel scared, disgusted or hurt, you would rather leave the building. But you can’t leave without that stranger’s (aka doctor’s) permission, who does not give a dime on how you feel. If you do sign out AMA you will be stuck with a big hospital bill which your insurance may refuse to pay. So you wait in that room again to have more strangers come into the room and poke needles into you. And of course a long cold night dealing with the suspense of what that stranger is going to say tomorrow.

This is how the patients view their experience. Now lets tackle the argument that if empathy is so important then why is it not taught in the medical school. It is because the whole academic system believes that empathy is common sense. Every physician has empathy but it needs to be triggered. Empathy is common sense until the humanity of a physician is constantly dealing with death, disease and misery. Persistent exposure to vulnerability of a human being makes physicians so numb that the empathetic response does not get triggered when someone is diagnosed with cancer etc.

It is a physician’s duty not only to diagnose and treat patients but also to make patients comfortable to their new surroundings and experience. Patients call it bedside manners. Those extra minutes spent to comfort the patients may not be reimbursed, but the value they add to your reputation is enormous. It is what defines a good doctor and makes them a popular doctor.