Category Archives: Personal Musings

Personal Musings

Why I will never buy another computer… I think

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Dr. Michael West

Few things come along that can change the way I “compute”, if you can call it that anymore. However, during the past Memorial Day weekend, I bought a small Logitech keyboard to go with my iPad mini and have been … Continue reading →

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7 Tips to Help Improve EHR Etiquette

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Dr. Michael West

It’s been a while since I’ve written, but only because my practice has been booming lately and I’ve barely had a moment to breathe here in DC.  But I’m back now, and for who knows how long given the waves … Continue reading →

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EMRs’ Slippery Slope of Cloning Notes

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Dr. Michael West

Given all of the recent hubbub regarding cloning of medical office notes using electronic medical records systems, I thought I would write in with my opinion on this topic. You know, just as one fabulous new technology comes about that … Continue reading →

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EMR use improves primary care: new study

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Dr. Michael West

There seems to be a lot of buzz in the news lately around the question of whether electronic medical record documentation can lead to a higher quality of care.  Last year, a study came out suggesting that this might be … Continue reading →

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Meaningful Use Is Not For Specialists

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Dr. Michael West

You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about Meaningful Use lately. I previously I’ve had pretty negative opinions of it, and my thoughts seem to be echoed by a lot of doctors currently in practice. Rob Lamberts, MD, wrote an … Continue reading →

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Patient Engagement: Who are the Real Targets?

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Dr. Michael West

As I further considered the ideas generated by the breakfast panel I had the opportunity to participate in recently, Doctors and Patients: Bridging the Digital Divide, I was reminded of a stimulating comment made by Nikolai Kirienko, a patient advocate … Continue reading →

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Patient engagement in the digital era

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Dr. Michael West

In the not-so-old days of medicine, patient engagement used to involve things like looking the patient in the eye when speaking to them, facing the patient, asking them how they felt, and asking them if they had any other questions … Continue reading →

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EMRs’ big gaping hole of secure messaging

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Dr. Michael West

Today’s post begins a series inspired by my recent participation in a breakfast panel in Washington, DC, Doctors and Patients Bridging the Digital Divide. There were a lot of useful ideas discussed during this panel, and so I decided to … Continue reading →

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Breakfast Panel: Doctors and Patients Bridging the Digital Divide

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Dr. Michael West

Greetings readers!  This week I’m excited to say that I have been invited to participate as part of a breakfast panel for National Health IT Week at the W Hotel in Washington, DC.  The title of the panel will be … Continue reading →

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Can We Talk? Challenges of SaaS Type EMR User Interfaces

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Dr. Michael West

Forget about EMR interoperability between doctors’ offices and hospitals for a moment. One of the recent developments in the ever-expanding SaaS (software as a service) world of electronic medical records must be the challenge of making all the individual software … Continue reading →

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