Well, I guess they got their desired professional recognition out of this publication.
It reminds me that repeatedly over recent modern medical history the appearance of a treatment for an illness is reliably followed by a sharp rise in the incidence of the disease. Do people get sick just because there is a treatment for the illness? As a matter of prevention then, the best course of action is to avoid finding treatments for diseases. ??? Of course, the answer in "NO". But, do physicians begin to diagnose a disease only after there is a treatment? Or, is the apparent rise in incidence of a disease an artifact of the process of treatment and the footprints that process leaves behind. So, the incidence rate of Adverse Drug Events (ADE) is higher. Higher that what? What is the scale by which one can make such comparative measurements? What are the norms for ADE and how are the ADR rates measured in other settings by a methodology that is also being used in this study so that the "higher" rates can be known in the present setting? The value in VistA on the subject of ADE is in its inherent ability to measure the extent of the ADE's. Once this can be reliably measured, then the process of control and eventual reduction of ADE's can finally begin. ...oh, yes, I forgot, since the introduction of insulin caused a steep increase in the incidence of diabetes, we are going to cite the adverse effects of insulin to justify removing it from the medical treatment inventory. ...and, likewise, VistA should be avoided as well... DOH! Regards, Richard. > From: Nancy Anthracite <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 00:27:25 -0400 > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Hardhats-members] Archives of Internal Medicine Article > > The May 23rd issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine had an article about > the high rates of adverse drug related events noted in a VA Hospital. The > lack of decision support for selection, dosing and monitoring was cited as a > deficiency in the EMR that if corrected, might prevent some of these > problems. The presence of drug interaction checking was mentioned. > > The abstract is here. > http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/165/10/1111 > > It is my understanding that there is some decision support already present in > VistA but it is less than the ideal according to this article > > I doubt any record system out there is ideal, but I can see this as something > that will be cited as a reason not to adopt VistA . I bring it to your > attention so you will not be surprised by this also so that we can work > toward adding more decision support to VistA with the help of the medical > community as it grows. > > I am hoping that the release of VistA Office and the web site that will come > with it will be a place for the VIstA users to debate and contribute > specific decision support suggestions as well as templates, clinical > reminders, etc. I hope that users within the VA will also be willing to > contribute and that this will lead to improvements in VistA for everyone's > benefit. > > > -- > Nancy Anthracite > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by Yahoo. > Introducing Yahoo! Search Developer Network - Create apps using Yahoo! > Search APIs Find out how you can build Yahoo! directly into your own > Applications - visit http://developer.yahoo.net/?fr=offad-ysdn-ostg-q22005 > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by Yahoo. Introducing Yahoo! Search Developer Network - Create apps using Yahoo! Search APIs Find out how you can build Yahoo! directly into your own Applications - visit http://developer.yahoo.net/?fr=offad-ysdn-ostg-q22005 _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
