Dr. Mary had been using paper medical records for 23 years but decided to transition to an electronic system. Her staff received training on the new EMR system but Dr. Mary missed it. The nurses helped teach Dr. Mary how to use the new system by having her recall her previous computer class and creating signs with an acronym to guide her steps. Though Dr. Mary initially struggled, with the nurses' assistance using retrieval of past knowledge and symbolic signs, she learned to competently use the new electronic system.

1. Running Head: UNIT TWO 1
Unit Two: Dr. Mary Learns a New System
Cognitivist Perspective
Lauren Fowler-Carter
University of Houston – Clear Lake

2. UNIT TWO 2
Unit One: Dr. Mary Learns a New System
Cognitivist Perspective
For 23 years, Dr. Mary Thomas and her staff have been keeping their office and patient
medical records in paper form. Mary has a computer of her own that her children bought her for
her 60th birthday, but she rarely uses the computer.
Remember information from a conference she attended, Dr. Mary decided that it may be
time for her business to transfer their paper records into electronic format in order to keep her
business current the newest technologies.
After the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software is installed the training on the new
system began. Dr. Mary missed of the training, but she hoped that her staff would be able to
remember the information given to them. Her nurses were able to rehearse how to operate the
new system with Dr. Mary. They told her to refer back to when she took the computer class at a
local community center to help her navigate on the computer.
The nurses went over how to navigate the EMR system and the proper steps to take. Dr.
Mary still had some difficulties, but she tried to remember how hard it was when she first got a
cell phone, she knew eventually she would understand the system. Some of the nurses decided to
create and place signs in all the exam rooms, which would help Dr. Mary remember the steps she
needed to take when seeing patients. The signs were a vertical acronym spelling out SOAP:
Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Prescription.
Though Dr. Mary initially had troubles with the new system, she is now able to
accomplish her tasks using the new system.
Initial Focus Questions & Answers
1. What is Dr. Mary learning in this story?
- Dr. Mary is learning how to use a new electronic medical system by the usage of the
semiotic theory and remembering past events/skills obtained.
2. Is semiosis used in this story? If so, please present details.
- The nurses decided to create a signs for Dr. Mary. The use of the signs would be
semiosis.
3. What role did the nurses play in this story? Why?
- The nurses essentially became the instructors in this story, because they took on the role
to help Dr. Mary in her learning of the new system. They also provided the retrieval of
information for Dr. Mary.
4. What is used when Dr. Mary refers back to when she took the computer class at the local
community center?
- Retrieval
5. The more information that Dr. Mary learns in reference to the EMR system, what
happens?
- The more Dr. Mary learns about the EMR system, her cognitive structure becomes more
elaborate.

3. UNIT TWO 3
6. Did the sign the nurses created represent 1) an index, 2) an icon, or 3) a symbol? Explain
- The sign represented a symbol, because it was an acronym that represented the steps Dr.
Mary should take.
7. Did Dr. Mary have to chunk any information in order to process it?
- With the information given it is not conclusive of if Dr. Mary needed to chunk any large
sequences in order to process the information. The answer based off the story would be
no.