In all the chapters the Case Studies represent situations similar to those that the medical assistant may encounter in daily practice. Students are encouraged to consider the case study as they read each chapter.

The big day has come at last! Today the new computer system will be installed. Everyone on staff will be involved in learning the new system and using it every day. For a while, everyone will be expected to learn the new system while continuing to maintain the old way of doing things. That will be no small effort for this busy medical office. Some of the office staff are nervous and edgy, while others are excited and looking forward to a new experience. Everyone agrees it is going to be a big change.

Chris is a medical assistant and is excited and eager to get started. She has been waiting for this day ever since she studied the use of computers in medical assisting school. She knows the next few weeks are going to be full of training and building data sets. She knows she is going to be an integral part of the creation of a new way of getting things done. Chris is excited.

Alicia, a medical assistant who works with Chris, thinks that life would be much easier if the administration had just chosen to leave things the way they were. Alicia is not alone in thinking that computers are just an unnecessary inconvenience. The truth is, Alicia is a little afraid that she will not be able to learn the new system. She has tried to ask questions and express her concerns about the new computer system. But each time she tried to talk to one of the computer specialists, she felt stupid and clumsy. They spoke in a language she didn’t understand, and she was too intimidated to tell them she didn’t understand what they were talking about. Alicia will go along with this new system just to keep her job. But she has decided that she is definitely not going to waste her time learning anything more than she absolutely has to.

As you read this chapter, consider the following questions:

1. Are you more like Chris or Alicia? What background do you bring to the study of computers that makes you feel the way you do?

2. Why is it important for an office to continue to use the manual system at the same time that it converts to a computerized system?

3. Who should be trained in the use of a new computer system in a medical practice? Why?

4. Which group do you think would be the most difficult to train in an average medical practice?

a. Those who think like Chris?

b. Those who think like Alicia?

c. The physicians?

What would be the best way to approach the group you just identified?