Cost of Technology

My primary care physician shared this wonderful drawing with me recently.  It shows a girl visiting the doctors office, she is on an examination table surrounded by her happy family.

Aside from the wonderful colours the most striking aspect of the drawing is how the physician is depicted - he is hunched over a computer facing away from the smiling family.  Now I know that this isn't the case for all clinicians using EHRs - but it does remind us there can be unintended costs to their adoption.  

These costs can often be avoided by diligently analyzing clinical needs.  Rooms layouts should be tailored to facilitate discussion between the family and the physician often using the EHR as a discussion tool.  Similarly the task of documenting visits in the EHR should be optimized so as to be as un-intrusive as possible.