There's a fascinating article in the Washington Post this morning about the failure of electronic medical records in U.S. hospitals and clinical settings: http://bit.ly/2Rb7lG
There are obviously a lot of culprits in this story -- design isn't the only issue. But I'd be interested in hearing back from any of you who've worked on medical records or devices. Do the issues and problems presented here sound familiar? If so, how did you overcome them? You may need an account to read the article, so I'll summarize the main points: - There's a strong incentive to adopt EHRs: Under Obama's stimulus program, hospitals and physicians can claim millions of dollars for IT purchases, and will be penalized if they do not go digital by 2015. - While some studies show that electronic records reduce mistakes and benefit outcomes, anecdotal evidence suggests major problems. - Complaints about existing systems include: Faulty software that miscalculated intracranial pressures and mixed up kilograms and pounds and a computer system that systematically gave adult doses of medications to children. - Small, often unwilling, user base: Barely 8 percent of U.S. hospitals have even a basic electronic medical system. Only 17 percent of physicians use electronic records, and many of those are uninstalling them. - Data entry takes too long: Physicians spent nearly five of every 10 hours on a computer. "I sit down and log on to a computer 60 times every shift. Physician productivity and satisfaction have fallen off a cliff." - Poor design and usability: "I can't tell from the medical display whether a patient is receiving 4mg or 8mg of a certain drug. It took us two years to get a back-button on our [EHR] browser." - IT-related mishaps are hard to quantify: Electronic medical records are not classified as medical devices, so hospitals are not required to report problems. Many health IT contracts do not allow hospitals to discuss computer flaws. - EHR systems are mission-critical: "The system crashed soon after it went online. I walked in to find no records on any patients. It was like being on the moon without oxygen." ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
