The infamous and often illegible doctor?s handwriting on medical
charts and prescription forms will no longer be found at UCLA?s
Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center ? the center?s
records are now entirely computerized.
Following a $240,000 upgrade in July, the patient?s experience
at the Ashe Center now includes regular interaction with Point and
Click, a new computer system which digitizes tasks that were once
done with a pen and paper.
From checking in through a computer at the front desk to filling
out a preliminary form at the clinic?s station to the digital
charts in the exam room, computers are now found throughout the
facility.
?The system is really great,? said Fara Anzures, a nurse
practitioner at the Ashe Center. ?It?s going to increase access for
the students and for the staff to records and patient
information.?
Anzures said she has found the ability to see other doctors?
notes on charts especially useful. Before, someone would have to go
to the fourth floor of the center and physically take the chart
down to the patient?s exam room. Now, it?s ?very easy, quick,? she
said.
The system represents what Anzures said is a pioneering effort
by UCLA to computerize the daily tasks entailed in providing health
care. The Ronald Reagan Medical Center, currently being built in
Westwood, will also feature an all-digital records system.
?I think eventually it would have been necessary. I?m glad we
jumped on it,? Anzures said.
When the system launched, it only included patient scheduling,
but was expanded in August to integrate patient records and online
appointment-making.
Michelle Pearson, director of ancillary services, said it is
continuously being upgraded and will eventually have the ability to
print out itemized statements for patients.
Even in its evolving state, Pearson said Point and Click
provides a number of advantages over the procedures they had used
previously.
One example is the preliminary forms patients had to fill out
before seeing a clinician. The forms asked for the patient?s name,
medical ailment and previous visit history, among other things, and
had to be filled out before each visit.
Now the form is online, so students can fill it out before they
have their appointment.
Even if they don?t do it at home, there is no paper involved ?
there are computer terminals in the waiting area to fill out the
form.
Students also find terminals in the exam rooms where clinicians
can pull up their preliminary form from the lobby or records from
past visits and enter information about the current visit.
Pearson said Point and Click also allows students to be assigned
to specific clinicians for repeat visits to create a ?friendlier
personal contact? between the patient and the caregiver.
She added the clinician can always be changed if requested by a
student.
The system did experience some growing pains in its infancy.
Anzures said some clinicians were frustrated with the new
systems, but she said they?ve quickly adjusted.
There were also complaints that people could see what someone
was typing on the terminals in the waiting room.
Privacy screens have since been installed to correct the
problem, Pearson said.
Beyond privacy in the waiting room, bringing a medical facility
into the digital realm also comes with its own set of problems,
specifically privacy and data security concerns, with access
terminals placed in exam rooms often left unattended.
But Pearson said clinicians must sign in before getting access
to the data, and said she is confident the new system is safer than
the old methods through using encrypted files for security and
backup files to make sure nothing is lost.
?We feel this is a much more secure environment than a paper
chart,? Pearson said. ?It increases my comfort level
tremendously.?
Lars Moleni, a third-year political science student, said he
thought the system was ?pretty easy? to use but didn?t offer any
significant advantages or disadvantages over using the traditional
paper and pen.
Moleni also said he had slight reservations about the security
of a digital system, but said it didn?t bother him too much.
Anzures said students have been very responsive.
?When I walk into a room and pull up the chart, they seem to
like it and they want to look at it,? she said.
?We?re doing this all for the students.?