Welcome to the Magic of Praxis - a primer for physicians seeking to adopt the electronic medical record (EMR) software Praxis®, developed by Infor*med Corporation of Woodland Hills, California.
The Magic of Praxis was published by Dr. Steven Gold in early 2009, following 7 years of Praxis® EMR software use in the family medicine practice he founded in 2000 near Hickory, North Carolina. A graduate of the University of Toronto medical school and the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Gold brings to this primer a wealth of medical informatics experience dating back to the mid 1980’s along with 25 years of clinical medicine experience. Additionally, he brings his experience in the administration of public and private health care services in both the United States and Canada.
Praxis® has been unique amongst electronic medical records, in that it allows the physician or ancillary provider to document the medical encounter in their own style rather than forcing adaptation to the developer’s program style. At its inception the founders of Praxis® adopted a relational database yielding the clinical CONCEPT PROCESSOR which differentiated Praxis® software from template-based electronic medical records. It was the CONCEPT PROCESSOR which initially gave Praxis its reputation as “the fastest note generator on the market.” More importantly, the CONCEPT PROCESSOR is the “kernel” which allows the software to develop and retain the clinical intelligence of its user – a form of artificial intelligence under the full control of the physician or ancillary health care provider. Following 20 years of development, Praxis® has further evolved into a full featured electronic medical record capable of interfacing with most practice management and laboratory softwares. Praxis® EMR was certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHITSM) in 2006.
In his introduction to the Magic of Praxis®, Dr. Gold states that his “purpose in preparation of this primer on the Praxis® version 4 is not to provide a full manual, but rather to provide an overview of the conceptual framework of Praxis®, its features, and practical steps towards its adoption in the clinical setting.” Thereby he hopes to “give the reader enough insight into the product to make a ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ purchase decision, while furthering the reader’s understanding of some of the issues involved in the documentation of the medical encounter,” and, in fact, in the implementation of any electronic medical record.
Dr. Gold provides the reader with a refreshing approach to the technical aspects of teaching software use. He rapidly captures the reader with his story of discovery in a Philadelphia airport terminal.
Visitors are invited to download an excerpt of the text in Adobe .pdf file format. The file, written in Adobe Pro 9, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7 or later to open. Adobe Acrobat reader may be downloaded or updated from http://www.adobe.com/downloads.
