Thank you for the typically sound analysis.
I once served on an Institute of Medicine committee studying the electronic
patient record. I was certainly the least well-known and most lacking in
prestige person there and I enjoyed it alot.
Midway through, I said to the assembled Solons, "Look, the easiest way to
get this process going is for Congress to pass a law consisting of the
following sentence: AT THE END OF TWO YEARS FROM THE DATE OF ENACTMENT OF
THIS LAW, IT WILL BE UNLAWFUL WITH PENALTIES TO BE DETERMINED TO MAKE ANY
HANDWRITTEN ENTRIES IN A PATIENT OR MEDICAL RECORD."
I still believe that would do the trick.
I am reminded of this by your statement:
>I submit that not enough study has been done on such texts to warrant such
>a conclusion, no matter how attractive such a situation presents to known
>automation techniques.
Nor will it ever be done while 75% of the medical record is illegible.
John
