August 1997 Vol. A colleague recently told me that he is actively treating more than 250 patients at three separate locations. That is a question many psychiatrists are asking as they see more patients and do an increasing amount of paperwork to maintain the same income they earned with far fewer patients just five years ago. To answer my colleague I had to rephrase his question.
Computers are simply tools for the collection, manipulation and storage of data.
In our minds, these tasks should always have priority over an enchantment with the tool used to accomplish them. Psychiatrists have managed clinical information with pen and paper for decades. To answer that question we have to examine the recent history of psychiatric practice. Fifteen or 20 years ago the average psychiatrist saw 30 to 40 patients each week for an hour of psychotherapy in his office. A modest proportion of those patients received medication.