Hi Kim, Thanks for the link, I'm going to have to go read this.
I work in the health care space (including a medically regulated product), although not in EHR's. However, I do get to see some of the things going on from a holistic perspective. This is a very interesting area, one with issues and opportunities. The fact that EHR's are not regulated contributes to some of the items the article points out. Right now I see the main driver of going to market as being cost. If/when EHR's become medically regulated, you'll see a much bigger influence on usability and design. The CFRs (Code of Federal Regulations) that do relate to regulated products HAVE to have an audit trail as to why the design is what it is. As well, you have to prove to the FDA that your product won't cause harm to a user. And, if there are any scenarios within reasonable use of the device that could cause issues, you have to prove how you are going to mitigate them. It really speaks to heavy user centric views. In fact, in Europe, a new standard is being adopted for quality that has a significant usability section in it. Whether the US adopts this or not, any product sold to European countries will have to adhere to this standard. Thankfully, my company is adopting those standards even for US products. Obviously there are many other items to speak to in this realm, but I'll hold out my opinions for now. :) At least there's a high level hope that we can address some of these issues, but it's going to be a long, tough road to get there. David On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 11:44 PM, Kim Bieler <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 ....... [email protected] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- "Making peoples lives easier daily... since 1969" w: http://weatherdude.wordpress.com ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
