Rahul Parikh, MD, showcases how telemedicine can address physician burnout

The electronic health record (EHR) helped mobilize patients’ records online but has become a point of frustration for physicians who spend more and more time on the system inputting information than they spend having face-to-face interactions with patients.

Rahul Parikh, MD, a pediatrician with The Permanente Medical Group, shared some of the digital health tools developed at Kaiser Permanente to help improve the efficiency of doctors while saving them time spent on the EHR. Dr. Parikh presented these tools during a talk at the recent American Telemedicine Association’s annual conference, which was reported in an article on SearchHealthIT.com called “Physician burnout eased with homegrown tech.”

“The (EHR) was getting in the way of taking care of our patients – of forming the connection that gives us a sense of meaning, purpose and wellness in what we do,” Dr. Parikh says. He noted that at Kaiser Permanente, physicians are appointed technology leaders at the medical centers to help determine what types of technology is needed to improve patient care.

In the article, Dr. Parikh highlights the following digital tools that improve patient care while simplifying work flows for doctors:

• EHR toolbar, an application at the top of a patient’s electronic health record to allow Permanente physicians to quickly close out of a record.
• Clinician Connect, an app developed at TPMG to connect physicians with available specialists for consultation. The doctors can talk via phone or text within the app.
• Video remote interpreter, an iPad-accessible tool to connect doctors with on-demand interpreters for more than 27 language, including American Sign Language.

Learn more in the full story on the SearchHealthIT.com site.