My thought for today focuses on how using electronic medical records helps us maintain the health of our communities by keeping the environment in mind, which ultimately promotes health for all. Contrary to what some might think, you don’t have to write a prescription or perform a medical procedure to help keep patients healthy.
I recently stumbled upon a thought-provoking company, Toms Marketplace. Toms purports itself to be “a different way to shop”. Established just recently in 2013, Toms’ great philosophy is to use profits from the sale of their community-centered products to give back to local communities in multiple ways. For example, some of their toy sales support reforestation.
On a deeper level, aren’t we getting at some of the same grassroots issues by voluntarily using EMR systems that attempt, in their purest form, to be paperless? Yes, EMRs can save trees and the environment in Honduras and elsewhere, and that has to be a good thing.
Trees should be a priority. They are objects of beauty. They provide oxygen for us to breath. They provide shade on a hot day, which, depending on where you are in the world, can even save lives. They help reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus reduce global warming (yes, it probably does exist!) and all of its associated problems. We are no longer living in the world of 1000 AD, and if people continue to use the world’s natural resources with abandon, then there can be consequences.
Thus, EMR users should revel and keep in mind a simple fact — that simply by getting away from the use of paper charts, they are touching the world for the better every day … keystroke by keystroke … tree by tree … and life by life.
