In spite of all the talk these days about health care teams and in spite of more and more physicians working for bigger and bigger healthcare organizations, we are becoming more and more isolated from our colleagues and our support staffs.
Computer work, which is taking more and more time as EMRs get more and more complex, is a lonely activity. We are not just encouraged but pretty much forced to communicate with our nurses and medical assistants through computer messaging. This may provide more evidence of who said or did what at what point in time, but it is both inefficient and dehumanizing.
Why do people who work right next to each other have to communicate electronically? Why can’t my nurse simply ask me a question and then document “Patient asked whether to take aspirin or Tylenol and I told her that Dr. Duvefelt advised up to 2,500 mg acetaminophen/24 hours”. It would be a lot less work for me, even if I have to sign off on the darn thing.
And just because it now takes us longer to do our work, there is less slack our day. This makes for less curbside consults, less sharing of clinical experiences between clinicians, less social contact with other staff categories.
All this leads to professional and social isolation.
And, you know me, this reminds me of a James Taylor song, Millworker:
Then it’s me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
For the rest of the afternoon
And the rest of my life
A Country Doctor Writes: 
Ah, you’re complaining that both doctors and patients are developing a kind of nutrition deficiency, just as bad as iron deficiency—-this could be called a “visceral body communication deficiency.” It’s watching and listening, even smelling the other person—-very messy stuff, and not easily coded and charged for! Corporate medicine and insurance—-they don’t want to waste money over that
Alas, I greatly empathize Doctor D!!!
Last year I was acquired by a primary care network; a trade-off I initiated to better my family situation.
And every day I balance the dumbed-down and dehumanized EHR management bestowed upon me with caring and listening to my long time patients.
I know the price was paid, and it comes at a steep cost
My heart goes out to you. I for one had you as a doctor and know how important it is to be social. I really think there is a plan to separate everyone. caring and love is lost in the interim. How to change the world. I have reached 90 and find no conversation, just a cell phone in front of the family’s nose.
I still write my poems for my sanity. At least, if read, they will know my true feelings.
I pray that I will die in my sleep. It will solve all my problems.
You have always been tops on my list. I have had about seven primary doctors, (seen once) since I left Bucksport. Since Covid, my health took the biggest turn. I really don’t even want to go to Northern Light or a doctor anymore.
I continue to read and enjoy your honesty which I feel comes at a price for you. This world is filled with more followers than leaders. To your own self be true.
Marilyn Lynne Findlay
Don’t overlook/forget the absolute demise of the Doctor’s Lounge as well. No chance of actually meeting one of your colleagues, let alone discussing a case, looking for collaboration on patient car or research, etc.
This happens in my work too. Once my boss whose office is across mine sent me a long email about the fact that I’d missed a meeting. I knocked on his door and asked him, “ what’s wrong with you?”. He answered that he needed to leave a “paper trail “ to “ cover my ass” . We had known each other since grad school and were and still are friends, but that was the end of my trusting him.