It has been more than 3 years since the majority of practices transitioned to electronic health records, but we still see far too many clinicians struggling with systems and describing data that reflect things they have not done, all due to the use of default settings that have never been changed. It is important to understand how to customize your EHR to meet your needs and to make the individual efforts required to learn how to effectively use the current instruments of our craft.
As for whispered pectoriloquy, it is the increased loudness of a whispered word heard on auscultation over an area of lung consolidation. It is similar to tactile fremitus, where consolidation is noted by the vibratory feel in your hand placed on the chest of a patient. It should be a very rare event in our day and age that any description of whispered pectoriloquy should sneak its way into our record, particularly for a urology visit.
Dr. Notte is a family physician and clinical informaticist for Abington (Pa.) Memorial Hospital. He is a partner in EHR Practice Consultants, a firm that aids physicians in adopting electronic health records. Dr. Skolnik is associate director of the family medicine residency program at Abington Memorial Hospital and professor of family and community medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia.