Fake news is a term that’s become notorious over the last couple of years. For notorious reasons perhaps. But there’s actually another serious arena where there is inadvertently an awful lot of “fake news” on a daily basis. And that is, well you guessed it: in health care throughout our nation’s hospitals and offices!
Let me explain, and I suspect anyone who works in health care will be familiar with the scenario. A physician or nurse assumes care of a new patient and a huge amount of information is thrown their way. They have “coronary artery disease,” they “drink five beers a day,” they “take a steroid pill every day,” they “will be discharged to rehabilitation.” All sounds like very serious stuff. However, in years of being a practicing physician, there is one rule I always follow: Take everything with a pinch of salt until you actually sit down and talk directly with the patient.
I have written a lot about the problems that electronic medical records have caused at the frontlines of health care. I am not going to make this another rant on the topic. However, I will say this: information technology is currently the number one reason for the propagation of fake news in health care. And this has serious implications for patients — who must always be sure to double check that their physician is aware of their accurate history. God knows what is in the computer and what old information is still being banded around about you! Physicians, for our part, are sadly fast losing the art of simply talking with our patients. No matter where technology takes us, there’s no substitute for this.
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