Hi, One of the experiences that I have had, time and time again is that when I talk to doctors about Health IT, they have some basic Information Technology gaps in their education. They simply do not understand some of the fundamentals of Information Technology and have trouble even understanding what I am talking about when I talk about things like "structured data".
Alternatively, "normal" IT people do not get some of the fundamental complexities of the healthcare delivery process that prevents them from understanding certain Health IT concepts. The kind of thing I find myself repeatedly explaining to doctors include "Why you need to include prescription data in a normalized way in the patient chart, rather than just writing in plaintext in a note" The kind of thing I find myself repeatedly explaining to IT people include "Why billing data cannot be relied upon for clinically accurate data mining" In your experience, what other things do you as Health IT people have to consistently explain to doctors and/or IT people about Health IT. I am looking for the kinds of things that you have explained at least three or four times. Perhaps you have explained them enough times that you have an impatient lecture that you have to give on the topic? Another way to ask the question is "If there were a FAQ for Health IT, what should go on it?" Thanks, -FT -- Fred Trotter http://www.fredtrotter.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
