BOSTON, MA – Huge swings in vital sign monitoring have some anesthesiologists and hospital administrators wondering how new automatic electronic records programs could be causing patient’s vitals to have “huge swings” as opposed to manual paper charting.
“I’m thinking of putting an end to electronic charting,” says anesthesiologist Dr. Anthony Bellens. “My patients are having enormous fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rate ever since I started the new electronic computer records.” Bellens referred GomerBlog to review his previous paper records of cases over the past year and it was amazing to see how stable the vital signs were previously.
“Solid ‘railroad tracks’ through induction and extubation in all of my cases,” Bellens pointed out to us when reviewing his previous charts. “Look at this electronic records nonsense. It documents blood pressures increasing into the 200s during induction with heart rates in the 140s. Huge swings! It just isn’t safe for the patient anymore.”
When a surgical colleague suggested he “may be writing down vitals incorrectly,” Dr. Bellens fired back: “You know nothing about anesthesia! What is the MAC of desflurane on a 55-year-old male? Exactly. We are going back to paper charting for vital signs.”
