Electronic health records are helpful to keep patient records neatly organized, keeping physical records at a minimum. profession apart is how we understand the body and are able to problem solve. There are numerous exercise apps that help fit the bill. Some examples of this technology include the “Straighten Up Canada” app and the CCGI series (www.chiropractic.ca), as well as the “Injurymap” app, a new innovative program based out of Denmark. Many Canadian docs are familiar with the GLA:D program for arthritic condi-tions. The Dane’s take their musculo-skeletal care seriously and InjuryMap is no exception. There are more, how-ever, we’ll focus on these options. An aesthetic user interface, algo-rithm acuity, and simple to under-stand design will assist with compli-ance. These are key features for any exercise app. Generally, these apps are user friendly and provide exercise programming that takes minutes to do (no excuse for the busiest of people). These plans are, for the most part, simple and easy to follow along as well as they don’t require any gym equip-ment either. Accessibility is one click away and, once they have it, they have the potential of self-managing the plan until they’re able to get in to see their trusted chiropractor for their expertise and care. Both applications provide ways for patients to track progress, set daily reminders, as well as provide them with a library of gen-eral health tips. What sets them apart is that the Straighten Up Canada app deals directly with spinal health with providing a generic exercise program to achieve this goal. With Injurymap, they’ve provided programming for different areas of the body based on the feedback given by the patient. Despite these positives, patients may risk relying too heavily on these apps as their source of knowledge and manage-ment for pain. Now this is not necessar-ily a bad thing, as it can make them feel and move better, it is important to re-mind your patients that these apps don’t 20 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor June 2020 know the specifics of their bodies like a thorough physical assessment can in order to provide specific rehab. On the other end of the spectrum, patient’s compliance becomes problematic. Not being able to track how patients are do-ing within the respective programs leads clinicians to feel somewhat helpless, solely reliant on subjective feedback. In general, InjuryMap takes the win, as it is the more intuitive of the pro-grams, and can be followed very easily by the patient. If a patient finds an exercise painful, or too easy, the apps algorithm will reallocate the next set of exercises based on that feedback. So it definitely makes a clinician’s job easier as long as they trust the parameters within which the patient is working. ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHR) Fortunately, this EHR technology (which began in a less than user friendly manner), has advanced well enough to be more functional, run smoothly, and provide more features and services than its predecessors. Using an electronic health record is helpful in keeping pa-tient records neatly organized, and keeping physical records to a minimum. This creates a tidy patient filing system that takes up less space. With less paper in the file, you could make the argu-ment that these programs are also en-vironmentally friendly. Graduates of CMCC would be very familiar with “OSCAR,” which has been the EHR used during the final clinical year for prospective graduates. Like any server-based program, it is only accessible from the clinic com-puters, adding to its security. Cloud-based programs are accessible online to the practitioner at any given mo-ment which makes remote patient management possible. Some programs maintain a clean, user-friendly expe-rience by navigating through its sys-tem page by page; Other programs can become tedious by creating “overlap-ping” windows that become layered while navigating a file. One of the best features of an elec-tronic patient file system is having all the information at a push of a button. There is no need to flip through pages of files to create a list of contact infor-mation if you wanted said list for a marketing campaign, or for sending out important clinic information to all your patients. The patient files are under more security than simple lock and key by being password protected which no crowbar or brute force can unlock. Using the electronic system, it is a matter of three clicks and a list of our patients’ contact information is created in a neat and tidy list to use as needed. Cybersecurity is a major issue in to-day’s world and it will not be going away anytime soon. Expect any serious program to keep this top of mind. It’s obvious to note that EHRs face the risk of being inaccessible if there is a power failure or issues with Internet connection. If all of your treatment notes and the majority of the patient information is stored on a computer that has no power to it, than this would put a large wrench into your day of practice. What would make this even more stressful is the fact that this inter-ruption is likely to occur with no warn-ing and with scheduled patients on the horizon. In personal experience, this is where we appreciate the interconnec-tivity of the current technology land-scape. Imagine if this situation occurred over 10-15 years ago, then you’d be essentially winging our patient load for the day. However, in today’s world, pulling up patient information and managing your day is still possible thanks to our smartphones. Using data and a fully charged phone, you’ll be able to weather the storm until opera-tions are back to normal. We’ve had to access our EHR through our mobile phones from time to time, but this has been a rare circumstance. We’ve touched on a number of im-portant areas regarding technology in today’s practice and how it relates to our ‘new COVID normal.’ It is a means as a cursory 30,000 foot view of what op-tions are available, to get those started who want to know more on how to ap-proach this element of their business. www.Cndoctor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor June 2020: Page 20
