Oct
17
Written by:
Audacious Inquiry Team
Friday, October 17, 2008 1:36 PM
The newest member of the AI team, Kristen Bova, shares her own testament to the value of health information exchange (HIE):
Last year was my final year at Duke University. With only one month left until graduation, I developed an infection that had to be treated at Duke's student health center. Two weeks later, I went back for more tests, and the doctor determined that my infection had mostly cleared.
Unfortunately, several weeks later, I began to experience my symptoms all over again. Their onset came in the evening, and Duke's student health center was already closed. It was finals week, with my most important final coming up in the morning, and I couldn’t afford to waste hours waiting around crowded hospitals and clinics.
Thanks to Duke's integrated electronic system, I was able to securely communicate with my doctor for weeks over an electronic messaging system. Because of her coaching, I knew exactly what signs to look for, and I had to seek medical attention when symptoms of the infection re-appeared.
Books in hand, I sat in the waiting room at Duke's urgent care center. After about twenty minutes, I was admitted to see the on-call physician. The doctor asked a few questions and decided that he would need to see the results of some tests. Within minutes, he pulled my most recent lab results from the student health center, determined what was wrong, and sent me out the door with a new prescription in hand.
If the urgent care center had not been part of a functional health information exchange (HIE), I would have undoubtedly been waiting for an extra hour while tests were repeated. To be sure, I would have been thinking about the University exam I was not preparing for, and a potentially longer wait as lab results would need to be compiled and reported.
In retrospect, I can only imagine how patients who have serious, maybe even life-threatening, conditions feel when enduring unnecessary tests only because their records are not available at the point of care. At the time, I was too preoccupied with finals to be fully grateful for the benefits I had reaped, but in reflection, I greatly appreciate the quality and efficiency improvements that can be realized through HIE.
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