A recent survey regarding area hospitals asked doctors what they thought about the standard of care at those facilities.
Some physicians said technology is eating up time they should be spending with their patients.
The Nueces County Medical Society hired Gelb Consulting to administer that survey. Doctors rated hospitals on items like quality of medical care, administration and medical staff issues.
Dr. Justin Hensley, president of the medical society, said one factor raised concerns across the board.
“People complain about their doctor not talking to them and spending most of the interaction turned away from them or typing on a computer,” Hensley said.
Electronic medical records are state mandated, but some doctors fear that technological advancements are actually harming patient-to-doctor relationships.
“Physicians believe that it takes more time to do the Electronic Medical Record, and it maybe takes away from their time with the patient, so anything we can do to ease the use would make a positive impact,” said David Covert.
The hospital with the highest score was South Texas Surgical Hospital. The hospital with the lowest score was Spohn Shoreline.
Below is a statement from a Christus Health System spokesperson:
“We can tell you CHRISTUS Spohn enjoys positive relationships with many physicians in the Coastal Bend including the nearly 1,000 physicians who have medical privileges at our facilities. We gather that the response rate is a small fraction of the physicians who practice in South Texas and is not a true representation of the high quality of care we provide every day. We know that physicians are our partners in delivering high-quality care and we want to actively engage them in our programs to continuously improve the quality of care we provide. Through the years, CHRISTUS Spohn has recruited hundreds of physicians to our community to support the ongoing development of specialty services such as oncology, trauma and orthopedic surgery. We have worked closely with our physician partners in the design of our new $335 million construction project, to deliver the kind of technology and facilities they prefer to provide care to their patients. We value all input and feedback from our physician partners and are grateful for their commitment to the CHRISTUS Spohn mission of extending the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.”