Comments for HIStalk

Comment on News 2/8/12 by cerner pizzza

cerner pizzza — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:21:40 +0000

Mr H,

Where’s the pun?

[From Mr. H] As I was writing that, I realized that Cerner’s charity is called First Hand.

Comment on EHR Design Talk with Dr. Rick 2/6/12 by Mark

Mark — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:09:34 +0000

I’m commenting as a long time reader of HIStalk and a parent whose 19 year had to go to the ER within 24hrs of a previous ER visit. When the ER doc on the second visit tried to determine what was done by looking at the faxed T-sheet they couldn’t. No one could read the scribble on the eval sheet. So while I’m sure a physician would say writing is “easier and faster and mayber so long as I get paid”, there is no reason with the technology that’s available that these manual systems should still be out there.

Comment on News 2/8/12 by David

David — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:14:05 +0000

It is nice to see someone bring the actual data to bear on the frequent and incorrect claims of Epic beating MEDITECH in number of meaningful use attestations on the in-patient side.

I hope now that the data has been presented clearly that the fantasy of Epic having more in-patient attestations than MEDITECH does not continue.

Comment on EHR Design Talk with Dr. Rick 2/6/12 by Rick Weinhaus, MD

Rick Weinhaus, MD — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:35:58 +0000

Margalit, Brian, Lizzie, disbelieving doc, Dean Gushee, and Dr. Dan — Thanks for your comments!

In one way or another, all of you touch on the same issue — namely — what happens when you take a mechanical-age cognitive tool (such as the paper form) and try to represent it using digital-age technology?

Alan Cooper has a great discussion of this problem in About Face 3, the Essentials of Interaction Design. He makes a strong case that new technologies demand new representations. He writes that when cognitive tools are brought over unchanged from the mechanical age to the digital age, they tend to combine the weaknesses of the old with the weaknesses of the new.

Compared to the long history of designs for the medium of pen and paper, the interface designs for EHRs are still in their early stages. For EHR designs to function effectively as cognitive tools, they need to take advantage of the unique strengths of digital technology, which are very different from the strengths of pen and paper.

It is my hope that these posts and the discussion generated by them will contribute to the development of new EHR designs that better support the clinicians who use them.

Rick

Comment on EHR Design Talk with Dr. Rick 2/6/12 by Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:24:31 +0000

Re: “We need interactive T-Sheets.”
An interactive T-Sheet is available, and the ED where I practice has been using it with great success for the last 18 months as a beta test site. The product is called DigitalShare from T-System, which is powered by Shareable Ink technology. (This system covers all of the “meaningful use” criteria.) Prior to implementing this system, we had been using paper T-Sheets and a regular pen for our documentation. While we continue to document using the paper T-Sheets, the PEN we use has changed. Shareable Ink’s computerized pen is used to write – in ink – on a paper T-sheet as if the pen is a regular ink pen. When the pen is placed in the electronic dock, the data is automatically transferred into the EHR. Because the pen was the only thing that changed for our documentation, the transition was hardly noticeable (even for some of us docs who are somewhat computer illiterate). In fact, our ED, which sees 2.7 patients/hour, has maintained its satisfaction rate of greater than 90%.
I am so satisfied with this system that I highly recommend all ED directors check it out for themselves. I always leave the ED at the end of my shift with all of my documentation complete.
Note: I have no financial interest in T-System, Inc. or Shareable Ink (but I think I might look into it!)