Imagine you are a patient and you have a long story to tell your personal physician. You make an appointment with him. He lets you into his chamber, asks you to sit on a side stool and tell him your history. As you narrate, he is rapidly typing on the keyboard hardly looking at you. He intermittently asks you to stop the narration for him to catch up with typing. He still does not look at you.
At the end of the consultation, he hands you a set of slips, investigations, prescription and a bill. Your data has been very accurately entered into the hospital information system, archived forever and he can retrieve it at will. As you move through, the lab is ready to take your blood and the pharmacy has already packed your drugs. This conveyor belt experience in Medicine is today the standard of care - efficient, rapid and standardized. But ask yourself this question - how satisfied and…
