Ours is the largest family health team in the province of Ontario. As such, the family health team went out and kind of led the charge on electronic medical records in our community. They looked at all the vendors and all the products, and they chose one through a very aggressive and big due diligence process.
One of the family doctors is actually their IT lead, their electronic medical records lead, and he's a good friend of mine. When I decided what I was going to get in my practice, I talked to him. I did my own due diligence in an abbreviated fashion, and I ended up using the same one.
In our community, many of the doctors, although not all, use the same system. They all communicate with each other to a greater or lesser extent.
My biggest challenge with electronic medical records is that the patients I see...particularly this lady with dizziness, the complicated case that I presented today. Often the initial consultation request comes with a letter that says “Vertigo?”
By the way, “vertigo” is a symptom, not a diagnosis, so I know, when I get that letter, that I'm really starting from scratch. What I often don't know until the patient is in the office is that they've had two other consultations with other specialists. They have seen a neurologist as well as a cardiologist, and they've had these six tests.
One day I'd like to see an electronic medical record that is available on a memory stick that I can just put in this computer. The patient's electronic medical record can be portable with the patient, and we can actually get that information right in our offices.