Dr. Karkare is also in an article at the University of South Florida, for the Morsani College of Medicine. The article was called “The Digital MD – Part 1 Embrace the Change” and discusses the advantages and changes in technology when it comes to health care. From the article –
Physician Nakul Karkare whose work in digital medicine is in a series of articles to address the issue from the perspective of healthcare professionals.
Karkare said he believes technology is vital to medical care in the 21st century. He touts technology’s role in improving processes, making doctor visit wait times shorter, creating fewer errors and improving overall patient care.
“It is the natural evolution of the way medicine is practiced,” Karkare said.
He did not like messy paper charts, which took up space and were neither efficient nor effective for timely communication between healthcare providers, including doctors, managed care providers, hospitals and others.
Karkare said he initially went through a period he described as “teething,” when he was putting together specific work templates and developing a work flow. It took about two or three weeks to adapt to the new digitalized system and learn new processes.
His Cloudbased EMR:
Going paperless has allowed Karkare to provide better patient care and lead a more efficient operation.
“It has allowed me to maintain several offices where everyone can access data because my electronic medical records is cloud based,” Karkare said.
EMR scans all documents, including insurance cards, he added.
Karkare offered a piece of advice for a healthcare professional interested in health IT.
“Spend the extra time and effort in setting up designer practice modules in the initial phase,” Karkare said. Also, “making sure that front desk staff and other physician extenders are well trained with the use of EMR.”
Health IT is the future, Karkare added. “You have to embrace it. Don’t fight it.”