I've been busy...

I got home from visiting Little Logan and his parents just in time to get ready for the implementation phase of the new Electronic Medical Record ( the "EMR") at our office.

This EMR was something we'd been investigating and working on since last fall. And we (the good doctor and I) were excited to get it installed and "Go Live." Go Live is tech talk for get the computers up and runing and see how amazing and fun our work suddenly becomes.   We had a pretty good attitude about the whole process. And the representatives from WOLF assured the doctor and I that we were going to LOVE the new system. 

 Things went surprisingly well the very first day. The guys arrived on time and hooked things up. The new computers and all the new printers and scanners and fax machine were beautiful and I could hardly wait to get to work on all the shiny new equipment. It was a great day at the office! And then I remembered, we had no patients scheduled so we could get used to the new electronics. Of course, the day would go smoothly if there were no actual patients to deal with!! Silly me.

The next day (May 29, 2012) was a Tuesday and the doctor started to see patients. I was back to answering phones, booking appointments, and managing the families that the doctor takes care of. And that's when the wheels fell off the wagon!

Needless to say, NOTHING WORKED and I spent more time on the help line than I did on the front lines and by the end of that week, I was ready to pack it in. 

We'd actually been sent a used scanner/copier full of phone numbers and addresses from some oil company in Calgary. Definitely not in line with our extensive PIA....

Our data transfer from our old system to WOLF was painfully incomplete. WOLF would not recognize any rural municipalities in Alberta so my patients from Coalhurst, Milk River, Diamond City, Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek etc. etc. etc. simply did not exist. Who knew that the only viable places to live in western Canada were Vancouver and Hanna?!? 

The people setting up our system entered the wrong billing codes for psychiatry into the system so everything I submitted for billing had the potential of being rejected. And that didn't even really matter because they flat out forgot to connect our billing system to Alberta Health Care!!!  

I could go on but it's not worth the painful memories. The long and the short of it is that WOLF failed spectacularly and FIVE WEEKS LATER when we still hadn't been paid and the tech guys were not even close to getting to the bottom of the whole mess, I had a real life epiphany!

The point of this post is to illustrate just how similar highly specialized surgeons and computer tech geeks can be in real life applications.

If you recall, my experience with the "team" of pediatric surgeons at Legacy Emmanuel Children's Hospital was so frustratingly comical I was forced to post the foolishness. Well folks, here we go again....

When a third party observer finally discovered what the problem was with our brand spanking new, top of the line EMR, and alerted the talking heads at WOLF head quarters, the tech guy on the other end of the phone had the audacity to say to me:

 "Now aren't you glad I discovered this problem early enough 

in the process to clear it right up and get you on your way?" 

Sorry Dude - six weeks with no pay checks is not EARLY and don't you dare try to tell me YOU figured this out! 

That's what I thought. 

Thankfully, I was speaking with him on the phone so he couldn't see me roll my eyes and tear at my hair as I tried to keep my head from exploding!

What I said was, "thanks for the help..."

Things are going a little smoother at the office. The new EMR is becoming a little more user friendly as I teach it what it needs to know. 

 Now I only have to worry about the AHC computers that crashed last week as a result of the "SHAW incident." But that's another story...and tomorrow is Monday and I'm looking forward to a better week.