Doctor Loses License Because She Doesn’t Know How to Use a Computer

Megalith

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
Staff member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
13,000
An elderly doctor is fighting to regain her license after losing it due to a lack of computing skills. Dr. Anna Konopka insists that her paper system for keeping track of patients’ medical conditions and various prescriptions works fine, but the New Hampshire Board of Medicine disagrees. It is challenging the 84-year-old New London physician’s record keeping, prescribing practices, and medical decision making.

Part of their concern is her remedial computer skills, which prevent her from accessing and using the state’s mandatory electronic drug monitoring program. The program, which the state signed onto in 2014, requires prescribers of opioids to register in an effort reduce overdoses. Konopka doesn’t have a computer in her office and doesn’t know how to use one. Two file cabinets in a tiny waiting room inside a 160-year-old clapboard house hold most of her patient records. The only sign of technology in the waiting room is a landline telephone on her desk.
 
84 years old... There is a time when professionals should call it a day and enjoy a nice retirement. This looks like a brilliant example of one of those times.

While a doctor's past experience is very valuable, any profession absolutely MUST stay on top of the advances in that profession. A doctor that does not do this ends up becoming obsolete in a very short time. Having computer research skills helps keep any professional up to date with the newest practices and procedures, or at the very least gives them the tools they need when referring patients to specialists. Technology is not just for the youngsters. Anyone that is in a profession in which people entrust their lives must use all the tools available to to them to keep that trust.

A doctor that lacks the skills to keep him/herself up to date with the latest medical advances is doing not only themselves but their patients a serious disservice. I wonder how many of this doctor's patients died of un-diagnosed cancer or other serious conditions simply because she did not know to look for the symptoms?
 
You can't use the diet pills of the 50s and the 60s anymore. Giving people Crank mixed with salts isn't a viable medical practice anymore.

Obetrol was a popular diet pill in America in the 1950s and 1960s. A formulation of amphetamine mixed salts that included methamphetamine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 19, 1960 under the name Obetrol.
Click to expand...
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obetrol

Doctors need to keep up with the times more than anyone else. How they diagnose, How to treat, how to prescribe. That stuff changes just as much as being in IT.
 
RogueTadhg said:
You can't use the diet pills of the 50s and the 60s anymore. Giving people Crank mixed with salts isn't a viable medical practice anymore.


Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obetrol

Doctors need to keep up with the times more than anyone else. How they diagnose, How to treat, how to prescribe. That stuff changes just as much as being in IT.
Click to expand...

now they just use speed instead of crack
 
Reminds me of calls for elderly people to have to go through driving tests in order to keep their license, a good idea i think. With that said, the article makes a good point regarding modernization, the cost of installing electronic systems is expensive and she seems to offer low-cost vital care, which is important.

We are facing a situation where cost of healthcare keeps rising, and mandates like forcing electronic systems does increase costs, on the other hand, well, im assuming theres a good reason for these mandates, so tough decisions to consider.
 
SecretStash said:
I'd take her medical wisdom over those who just use the medical search engine to get all their answers void of situational perspective.
Click to expand...

It isn't just about medical wisdom but rather about communications.

I shadow both doctors and pharmacist in the past and the amount of people who tries to obtain narcotics is really bad.

How would this doctor know that one of her patients who is a regular on percocet for pain is also hitting up another doctor for morphine? The other doctor wouldn't even know since the old doctor doesn't register anything in the database.

I'm sure the medical board has warned her many times and if anything she could have just hired someone to register and log everything for her. However she refused to modernize to any degree at all.

If she wants to continue practice then she should step down and work under someone else and have an assistance to do the computer work for her.
 
This happened to a doctor I know as well.

From what I understand, it came about because he was using code for his notes so that insurance companies couldn't see if someone had X condition or whatever. One particular insurance company raised a complaint with the medical board stating his handwriting was illegible. He had to convert to a computer system or lose his license.
 
SighTurtle said:
Reminds me of calls for elderly people to have to go through driving tests in order to keep their license, a good idea i think. With that said, the article makes a good point regarding modernization, the cost of installing electronic systems is expensive and she seems to offer low-cost vital care, which is important.

We are facing a situation where cost of healthcare keeps rising, and mandates like forcing electronic systems does increase costs, on the other hand, well, im assuming theres a good reason for these mandates, so tough decisions to consider.
Click to expand...

I could understand for a MRI machine or something like that but a computer is hardly a massive cost.
 
I agree she should probably retire but if not a simple fix is to hire a young assistant problem solved.

She will lose her license for being stubborn.
 
Makaveli@BETA said:
I agree she should probably retire but if not a simple fix is to hire a young assistant problem solved.

She will lose her license for being stubborn.
Click to expand...

Yes that would fix her issue. But if she insist on trying to run the office herself with no other help and refuses to follow state regulations then that is 100% on her.
 
Working in a laboratory I can see it from both sides. Age, wisdom and experience can be valuable resources for any profession as can youth mixed with curiosity. I have young chemists working with me who can do great work, but they rely so much on the tech that they fail to learn many of the advanced knowledge needed for the job. We have modern automated equipment which makes us more productive, but by not having knowledge of the older manual ways of doing things, they have a lot of difficulty troubleshooting problems that occur when the automated equipment fails.

While this doctor may not be computer literate, she has probably seen more symptoms and results from more illnesses than could easily be searched online. If she knows something off the top of her head that will take someone else days or more to finally find an answer to online, which benefits the patient more? I have had times myself when I can tell someone what is wrong with their equipment or process because I have seen it before, but they will still spend days trying to find the answer online before they finally believe me and fix the problem. Then again, unlike this doctor, I spend a lot of time online sharing my experience in forums specific to the analytical chemistry that I have knowledge of.

As far as the part about prescribing conflicting medicines or over prescribing opioid drugs, those records should also be recorded by the pharmacy which can check for interactions and gaming the system, which I believe they are required to do anyway. And even though most doctors enter their records online, the medical groups still do not share the records without the patient's permission, I had to sign a agreement to share records when I went to a specialist just because he worked for another provider outside my network, so the records are not always universal in nature.
 
Ocellaris said:
Good. If she can’t keep up with the times to learn basic computer skills, or even hire an assistant, she probably isn’t keeping up with modern medical trends either.
Click to expand...

Exavior said:
if she can't keep up with requirements then sorry. At 84 I don't how much i would trust her anyway.
Click to expand...

cyberguyz said:
84 years old... There is a time when professionals should call it a day and enjoy a nice retirement. This looks like a brilliant example of one of those times.
Click to expand...
Curious if you guys have evidence that she is a bad doctor?
 
This is pretty surprising since most doctors offices have been using computer systems since the 1980s, of which she would have been in her 50s at the time, and by the 1990s, there is really no excuse for not adapting to the technology of the times, or at least learning the basics.
She really should probably just look at retiring at this point, sadly.
 
The issue is NOT that she "can't use a computer", she lost her license because she can't review and add to the prescription drug control done by computer. That's it. Its just sensationalized to be about the lack of computer usage.
 
MrTroy03 said:
The issue is NOT that she "can't use a computer", she lost her license because she can't review and add to the prescription drug control done by computer. That's it. Its just sensationalized to be about the lack of computer usage.
Click to expand...
A person of her caliber, if shown by another person, could seriously learn to use a basic software system like that in a single day or less.
It's funny how a person is able to go through years of medical school, read about new trends in medicine and practices, and after all that work, can't learn a simple piece of software... people are funny. :)
 
beemanit said:
Sorry Doc, WannaCry has forced us to get rid of Windows XP.
Click to expand...
Considering her advanced age, she would have probably been more used to CP/M or PC-DOS, which is still pretty cool. ;)
But really, retire already and enjoy your life, lady! :cool:
 
if she made it this far without using a computer then she must be doing something right...it's not like computers only recently became mainstream
 
polonyc2 said:
if she made it this far without using a computer then she must be doing something right...it's not like computers only recently became mainstream
Click to expand...
It's true, and she seems like a very nice and competent person.
The real issue is that using a computer system with their software for record keeping, and insurance reasons, is necessary to legally have a medical license in this day and age.

The legal and medical world of 2017 is extremely different than it was in 1989... overhead of using a computer included, but it is like this in nearly any job these days.
It's just the world we live in now. :)
 
cyberguyz said:
84 years old... There is a time when professionals should call it a day and enjoy a nice retirement. This looks like a brilliant example of one of those times.

While a doctor's past experience is very valuable, any profession absolutely MUST stay on top of the advances in that profession. A doctor that does not do this ends up becoming obsolete in a very short time. Having computer research skills helps keep any professional up to date with the newest practices and procedures, or at the very least gives them the tools they need when referring patients to specialists. Technology is not just for the youngsters. Anyone that is in a profession in which people entrust their lives must use all the tools available to to them to keep that trust.

A doctor that lacks the skills to keep him/herself up to date with the latest medical advances is doing not only themselves but their patients a serious disservice. I wonder how many of this doctor's patients died of un-diagnosed cancer or other serious conditions simply because she did not know to look for the symptoms?
Click to expand...
There's a niche market for shaman and witch doctors that preserve the thousand-year-old potions. In dire times, when modern medicine fails to cure, a dying patient will do whatever it takes to live.
 
serpretetsky said:
Curious if you guys have evidence that she is a bad doctor?
Click to expand...

Actual proof. No. Maybe she is doing fine. However personally I have seen many doctors her age that are still practicing that shouldn't be. My sister used to take her boys to a doctor that we later learned had been diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer and had been practicing for years with memory issues before finally retiring. I have seen many other doctors over the age of 80 that were not exactly the best with memory so at that age you are starting to get to the point where you have to question is the person 100% there or are they starting to fade some. Then lets take my personal experience and add to that the article itself.

This all started because they were questioning her prescribing practice and medical decision making. This involved her supposedly not giving a child with asthma an inhaler like what would be normal and instead just gave the child some medication and left it up to the parents to just make up whatever they thought was a good amount of a dose to help the asthma attacks.

On top of that she won't take insurance because she doesn't want to deal with the filing and instead will treat anything for $50. (which is why she can't afford to higher an assistant). I am sure that she is fine for some things such as colds and minor issues, but would almost have to question myself how many people were not given correct treatment.
 
I don't see them taking away her license just because she uses pen & paper... there has to be more to it.
The article doesn't say much other than she potentially put a kid's life at risk because the record of the drugs aren't in the system.
 
Interesting perspectives in here. Most seem to be in favor of the doctor not working based on age and thus assumed knowledge.

scojer said:
I don't see them taking away her license just because she uses pen & paper... there has to be more to it.
The article doesn't say much other than she potentially put a kid's life at risk because the record of the drugs aren't in the system.
Click to expand...

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the ACA requires electronic documentation. It's not a choice anymore. You can keep your doctor if they do what they are told to do (and are young enough).
 
scojer said:
I don't see them taking away her license just because she uses pen & paper... there has to be more to it.
The article doesn't say much other than she potentially put a kid's life at risk because the record of the drugs aren't in the system.
Click to expand...
Nah, it's mainly for insurance reasons.
The bottom line is that they don't want a certified medical doctor who isn't using legally-required resources, and thus don't want to deal with a potential lawsuit since she is basically "out-of-code".
 
Tough break but at 84? She should have retired atleast 15-20 years ago.
 
I kind of feel bad for her. She is likely still a practicing doctor because she likes what she does. I've heard having a purpose in life helps keep your brain sharp and makes your final years a lot more coherent. Some people view retirement as the end.
However, I can see what she should be using EMR.

As to my comments. I can't wait until I can retire and have no plans of doing stuff I do for work in my retirement time. I might still monkey with servers some - but I really hope to finally have the time to work on my Steam collection. I just hope the arthritis and dementia aren't too bad...
 
steakman1971 said:
I kind of feel bad for her. She is likely still a practicing doctor because she likes what she does. I've heard having a purpose in life helps keep your brain sharp and makes your final years a lot more coherent. Some people view retirement as the end.
Click to expand...

I hear you, a lot of elderly people dont want to retire because they are afraid of that. Best thing to do is pick up a good hobby, most play golf. I think golf keeps you young. My fiances grandad is 82 and he whips my butt a Billiards, its amazing the guy runs around the table like he's in his 20's & plays 18 holes of golf three times a week. Probably helps that he's a former Marine too :) I hope im that spry when Im his age.
 
She is an MD... 84 years old, ok, but does she have any malpractice history?

Maybe she got blackballed because big pharma couldn't put it in their pocket.

What is funny is that people without same said skills are in charge of making legislation regarding such tech...!
 
aShrubbery! said:
She is an MD... 84 years old, ok, but does she have any malpractice history?

Maybe she got blackballed because big pharma couldn't put it in their pocket.

What is funny is that people without same said skills are in charge of making legislation regarding such tech...!
Click to expand...

Probably this more than anything. Many older doctors have already retired just because of a bunch of the junk that got added by the ACA. I mean when it gets to where the diagnosis is "bruised kneed due to being tripped by pet" has it's own code number, that is just getting a little out of hand.
 
jedijeb13 said:
Probably this more than anything. Many older doctors have already retired just because of a bunch of the junk that got added by the ACA. I mean when it gets to where the diagnosis is "bruised kneed due to being tripped by pet" has it's own code number, that is just getting a little out of hand.
Click to expand...
That's got zero to do with the ACA, billing codes have been a nightmare for many, many years before ACA. And while they sound ridiculous at times, you do want 'high resolution' reason codes for injury. It's just that old systems could not be phased out easily, and the reason codes had to shoehorn better resolution into old systems.
 
Her age is not really the relevant issue -- she refuses to use the state required opiate reporting system that requires computer access. The system is supposed to alert the state to patients that see multiple doctors for lots of prescriptions but it doesn't work very well based on the increasing death rate.

Twenty or so years ago the feds beat doctors up over not controlling patient pain well enough. So like most federal edicts there was the unintended consequence that a lot of patients *want* to be prescription junkies and cannot handle the dosing well enough not to kill themselves. Just like their were a whole lot of people in big homes because the feds wanted more home owners and the whole thing turned into repo nightmare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top