Too much.

Too much paper. Too much information that I may never use. Signed papers. Photocopied papers. Brochures. Folders. Prescriptions. X-rays. Referral forms. And I only had one trip to the ER and an outpatient procedure. As I woke up to a new recycle pile, I saw every patient I wheeled out while piles of papers. I’m sorry.

Yes, some people need papers and folders and brochures and… Others, however, do not. With increasing personal electronic health record adoption, smart phone utilization, and general use of other electronic and mobile tools, there has to be another option to all the waste, to all the noise. Infographics have been suggested to redefine lab results for patients, so maybe something for discharge planning may follow?

Know of any facilities that should be replicated for the efforts streamlining hospital admission and discharge paperwork?