Electronic Medical Records, Burnout, And “Man’s 4th Best Hospital”

Graduating from medical school in 1978, I started my hellish internship while reading Samuel Shem’s classic, “The House of G-d,” a scathing indictment of medical education and the mercenary incentives in patient care. I found it shocking, crude at times and disillusioning—but at its core, absolutely correct about what was happening in medicine that was so wrong.

Thus it seems fitting that I received a review copy of Shem’s new book, “Man’s 4^th Best Hospital,” as my medical career is coming to a close. Once again, Shem nails where medical care has lost its way. Physician “burnout” and dissatisfaction are increasing in step with patients’ unhappiness.

Much of the blame can be attributed to two things—corporate greed and electronic medical records, which are like conjoined twins. There’s no small irony that this is what is forcing many experienced physicians, like myself, out of practice prematurely, contributing to a waste of both talent and experience that is needless and costly.

The full Forbes article can be viewed at this link.