Not as the patient...PO Day 146

It is so much easier to go to the doctor's when you are not the patient!  I am accompanying Dear Husband to a couple appointments this week and right now we are waiting to be called back. My palms are not sweaty and my pulse is its usual slow pace. That dread feeling of anxiety I always get has not washed over me.

I used to say that what I imagined was always worse than what turned out to be the case when I finally went to the doctor. Now the doctor's pronouncement is always worse than I imagined! The ravages of time.

The magazines in the waiting room are little help to divert one. My first orthopod, Dr. Kneaval, must have been a movie fan as the magazines were all about actors and cinema. My primary care doctor is into HAM radio and nature. The hospital Women's Center where I go for mammograms is replete with American Baby and Parents Magaine. I've never seen a woman younger than fifty in the waiting area! The reading material is definitely more a reflection of the physician than the patient base.

It's increasingly common to find a TV in the waiting room.  That is a good diversion if it is tuned to a generic news channel. But you certainly don't want any polarizing political chatter starting a dispute among patients. One office we go to plays that channel with all the 50s sitcoms like Gilligan's Island and Mr. Ed. At least they don't start any arguments. Hopefully one doesn't wait long enough to see the end of an episode...but what if you want to know if Gilligan gets off of the island?

Well, I'd better get ready. I am here as "scribe" to make notes for Dear Husband. "Scribe" is one of the solutions proponents of the EHR ( electronic health records) is recommending. Because the EHR data entry has slowed the medical office down so much physicians are being encouraged to hire a scribe who will accompany the doctor from room to room and record what is said and done freeing
the doctor up to focus on the patient rather than the paperwork.

The exam room is going to get pretty crowded... Doctor, doctor's scribe, patient, patient's scribe, and nurse. We're going to need a bigger room and a couple more chairs.

http://youtu.be/AI9oVAHEpJY