Quebec's doctors in favour of the DSQ
An EHR success story
By Claude Poirier Eng., M.D., M.Sc.
Our health system is a complex one: universal access to care complicated by such factors as an aging population, longer average life spans and an explosion in technological developments including new medications, is putting substantial financial pressures on the government. Everyone is asking how we can slow down the rapid growth of Canada's health care system while still preserving its fundamental characteristics.
At the same time, medical knowledge is increasing exponentially, generating an increased demand for the clinical information necessary to practice high quality, safe medicine. The practice of medicine can, with good reason, now be considered not only a clinical discipline but rather a science as well whose basic ingredient is information management. We already know that the main pathologies treated by doctors are chronic diseases. In order to do their work properly, however, today's physicians need, at the very least, access to an information system that provides all of the essential clinical data concerning their patients which has been recorded wherever they have actually received services.
Currently, the medical profession wants to become a 21st Century profession but it is forced to rely on an information system dating from the 16th Century: paper records. Doctors have realized this and are, therefore, in favour of introducing electronic health records (EHRs) because they know that accessibility, quality, safety and continuity of care will be improved, along with the overall efficiency of the health care system.
With the advent of the Quebec Health Record (DSQ), every doctor and authorized health care professional in Quebec will have secure access to patient management data, including laboratory and imaging results, pharmacological profiles, vaccines and emergency data. I firmly believe that the DSQ will assist clinicians, especially physicians, and convince them to continue the process of computerizing their offices.
Can we be sure that physicians will want to adopt the DSQ? This question has already been answered: timely clinical information is essential. Doctors are no longer asking why they should computerize, but rather how they should do it and how it will affect the way their work is organized.
To ensure support for physicians and other professionals in this huge project, the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services, with financial assistance from Canada Health Infoway, has created the Réseau de soutien et de valorisation par les pairs (RSVP) (Clinician eHealth Support Network). Research and the experiences of other countries demonstrate that professionals primarily trust the views of their peers when asked to change how they practice their profession.
The priority for the next few years must be the integration of clinicians into the DSQ implementation process, especially those physicians working outside of public health facilities. It is above all the patients who will gain the most from the DSQ implementation, a common objective for clinicians and the health care system.
