Comments on: First, Stop Doing Harm

By: aed defibrillator

aed defibrillator — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:09:31 +0000

This is a welcome approach to recording medical info accurately. And besides, this is the era of technology so why bother to go back to basics?

By: staffing

staffing — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:20:41 +0000

I agree that we need a better wired healthcare system.But IT might be dangerous if it is to complicated and not in the way customized in the way of logical thinking. So we have to take care about complicated IT implementation.

By: pixbook

pixbook — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:50:19 +0000

Ways to make money

In some cases computer can not be the replacement of human being.

By: OPSEC

OPSEC — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:28:00 +0000

This is the same issue that we see with almost any major technological advance, and is just another example of the Nirvana Fallacy: “If it's not perfect, it's not right”.
Similar concerns were raised with the invention of the automobile- but I'm not about to ride a horse 70 miles round trip for work every day!
It sounds like the whole thrust of her argument rests on the bedside manner of the physician. Perhaps there are doctors that will begin ignoring their patients and clicking boxes like a crazed chimp. But adding a computer to the mix won't really change who they are.

By: Dr David Black

Dr David Black — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:22:24 +0000

Do no harm. This is the oath that all physicians take on graduation.
Dr.David Black
www.blackchiropractic.com.au

By: Website Marketing

Website Marketing — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:22:06 +0000

I think that the computer systems need to be redundant in helping ensure mistakes are avoided… ultimately, I can see where the doctor is coming from, but I also believe that wrong boxes can be marked on paper – and the computer applications, if created properly can be redundant. I think a lot of value is in technology for medical offices – I think it can save lives if created properly.

By: Quotes

Quotes — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:33:36 +0000

Hey Brian, I liked your blog a lot, it's truly worth reading, thanks for sharing it, I have even bookmarked it.

Thanks
Chris

By: doctorkj

doctorkj — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:34:14 +0000

The problem with EHR and CPOE is that the basis of the design for most of the currently available systems is not grounded in what is safe or best practices for patient care. EHR systems were designed not to improve or make care safer, but to satisfy collection of needed data to code a diagnosis of a certain complexity to be able to bill for a higher level of care in order to make more money from the insurance company. Any other “functionality” that current systems provide are secondary . The amount of additional work required by physicians to encode data in a meaningfully granular way to make the data useful for patient care decisions far exceeds any potential benefit of the current systems and methods of data input. CPOE systems suffer from essentially the same problem, they were designed to more tightly document the services ordered, manage inventory(both HR and physical) and care rendered so that hospital systems can bill more to the insurance company. The exceptions to this generalization in this country exist in the Armed Services and VA systems, which are probably the closest thing available to systems designed for safety and quality of care.
It all comes down to who is the purchasing entity and what is the motivation for their financial outlay. Until other factors such as quality of care and documentation of safety of care environment are the financial drivers of health IT decisions(and for that matter health care in general), Dr Armstrong-Coben's argument well continue to remain valid, and critical redesign of the systems we need to truly make care better will continue to elude our well meaning but woefully misguided attempts to bring healthcare into alignment with other industries and modernize health IT.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:31:59 +0000

I agree that we need a better wired healthcare system. I can also see the point of “it's official” in that I once argued for quite some time with a nurse intent on administering medication because, “the computer said so”. I knew this would mean a double-dose of strong meds and wouldn't allow her to give the meds. After it was straightened out, all I can say is that the human element will always be a part of healthcare. It would be nice to think that being more wired will have better outcomes, but having someone who can look out for you is essential…so far, that isn't digital.

By: Brian Drake

Brian Drake — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:24:04 +0000

I re-hosted an internal blog I wrote about my NICU experience. I hope that you will take the time to read it.

http://briandrake.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/thin...