Intended for healthcare professionals

Fillers

Computer madness

BMJ 2002; 325 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.325.7376.1341/a (Published 07 December 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;325:1341
  1. Joseph Rothenberg, family physician
  1. Jerusalem, Israel

    Those damned computers will drive me to an early retirement. I'm fed up with having to resuscitate fatally flawed programs instead of caring for patients. Nothing irritates me more than having to reboot repeatedly in front of a waiting room full of unsympathetic onlookers. My hardware man and my software man don't answer their pagers. “Try pressing that button,” suggests a well meaning patient.

    Back in the examining room, Mrs N is pouring out her troubles when she notices me suddenly tuning her out because the computer screen has gone blank. “Just hold on to that tearfulness, Mrs N, I'll be with you in a moment.” The day will come when I'll put in a claim for worker's disability …

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