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Something to think about when choosing aa job, the EMR.
I am fairly young and have been using computers for >20 years. Having worked in several hospitals in many different roles, I have experienced variable EMRs. Something those hunting for a job (let us say in primary care, though I am going into a specialty), EMRs can really make or break you. We do, honestly, live in an information age where paper charts will not get people very far with the amounts of data we have to sort through. With that being said, your first job should consider which EMR you use for several reasons: learning to be a provider, giving good patient care, and learning your trade.
The first place I ever worked used raw dictation, a mix of paper charts, and computer record systems to dig through and add to a patient’s dataset. It actually was not that bad. I will not hound on this since these setups are rarely found anymore due to the req for purely digital EMRs.
I current work (residency), in a place where we use several EMRs. In short, the worst in all scripts basic (essentially garbage), the best is epic (best I have used yet). In the middle are Sorian (old cerner), and CPRS (the VA).
Epic is great for many reasons: you can find patient data (search function), notes are easy to write, and the screen is easy to read. Labs, rads, and most everything are set up where they are easily accessible. Personalization is easy, and the options are limitless, though NOT required to understand to provide good patient care. from what I have used, this is the best system to learn medicine on.
Sorian: It is OK. Outdated but not used anymore except by hospitals honestly waiting to transition to newer EMRs. Notes are easy to write, most things are easy to find, and actions are often auto-populated into progress notes. It is a middle of the road system.
CPRS: Honestly not great but sadly better than some EMR out there It does resemble a Windows 98 program, though seems to be set up fairly simply (probably varies at each VA). When in doubt, you can free text things into notes, and labs are not too hard to find. It seems to be hard to personalize, and many VAMC facilities have people make templates which are usually worse than free texting. The best part of this EMR is the front page, which reveals most important information without too many clicks.
Allscripts: I believe we have to basic version, which is basically garbage. Notes are difficult to read, scanned in docs are almost unreadable, and trying to find old information is probably worse than the paper EMR. Free-text boxes are small and hard to read (I am in my early 30s, it is not a vision problem). Any company that uses allscripts basic is almost certainly garbage. From what I have experienced, it is hard to deliver good patient care on this system.
/Point of the rant: What EMR your first job or two has matters. Pick one with a good one. If they have allscripts basic, run. I would quit but you cannot in residency. I would question the intelligence of any management that chooses allscripts basic as an EMR. It may be cheap, but the cost is that of rather poor patient care, and hours clicking stupid boxes that do not exist on other EMR.
There may be worse ones out there, but once you taste garbage, you know its scent, and should avoid it all costs.