Something a patient might notice when they\u2019re talking with Dr. Michael Rieser is his computer. It might, for instance, be filling itself with words \u2013 the patient\u2019s own words \u2013 recorded, transcribed and saved to the patient\u2019s file automatically. Dr. Rieser, a psychiatrist working in Lexington, Kentucky, has always been interested in technology that can help him provide better patient care and it\u2019s evident in his practice. Now he is using it to better manage medications as well.<\/p>\n
Dr. Rieser is board-certified in child and adolescent psychiatry, adult psychiatry and emergency medicine. He works as the medical director at the Ridge Behavioral Health System, a 110-bed practice in Lexington that consists of a mix of psychiatrists and internists who perform in-patient, multi-unit services. It can get very busy. \u201cWe get patients from all over Kentucky at this hospital,\u201d said Dr. Rieser.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest challenges Ridge Behavioral Health deals with is the high number of medications newly admitted patients are taking. \u201cSome of those patients may come in with 25 or 30 medications.\u201d This can be dangerous since a patient\u2019s chance for adverse drug effects rises with each medication they take. Luckily, there are clinical decision support tools to help avoid these problems, like YouScript\u00ae. Dr. Rieser\u2019s been one of the hospital\u2019s biggest proponents of these technologies. \u201cThey\u2019ve got computers littered all over the hospital so I can go anywhere and run it. People are used to seeing me use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Rieser started using YouScript in 2011. \u201cWhen I started using it, I was so overwhelmed with how many drug interactions there were. You pick up some of these toxic antidepressant effects, it\u2019s really common\u2026 Now, even the short regimens, just a couple of medications, I check them in YouScript.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Rieser\u2019s interest in medication management came to a head with one particular case. A boy, about 12, was admitted as psychotic. His history included ADHD, then later bipolar disorder, both of which came with various medications. As a routine part of his care, Dr. Rieser put the patient\u2019s drug list into YouScript. \u201cWhen I punched it in, something jumped out at me.\u201d The child had been prescribed both Prozac\u00ae and dextroamphetamine concurrently. \u201cThe Prozac inhibited the metabolism of the dextroamphetamine and doubled the blood level,\u201d Dr. Rieser explained, \u201cso the kid was basically amphetamine toxic and not sleeping. I\u2019d get psychotic too.\u201d The root cause of the kid\u2019s psychosis was in his drug regimen, not his brain. Dr. Rieser decreased the child\u2019s dose of dextroamphetamine and the patient recovered.<\/p>\n
Patients and other prescribers seem interested in the program, although they\u2019re sometimes hesitant to adopt it themselves. This isn\u2019t uncommon, as implementing new workflow procedures often take time. Nevertheless, Dr. Rieser feels that most prescribers will come around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis technology is a little bit like what happened when physicians were being exposed to X-ray reports for the first time. You get to see stuff you\u2019ve never seen before, and you end up seeing stuff you never would have imagined would have been there. It has a big impact on your decision -making.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Something a patient might notice when they\u2019re talking with Dr. Michael Rieser is his computer. It might, for instance, be filling itself with words \u2013 the patient\u2019s own words \u2013…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[85,169,170,187],"class_list":["post-1370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-dnatoday","category-news","tag-ehr","tag-profile","tag-psychiatrist","tag-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t