Comments on: Medical records and Facebook http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/09/medical-records-and-facebook.html medical blog Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:53:32 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Matt http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/09/medical-records-and-facebook.html/comment-page-1#comment-87401 Matt Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:09:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2008/09/medical-records-and-facebook.html#comment-87401 And not to beat a dead horse, but if/when the feds get involved in EMRs (as both candidates seem to like to mention), you can be assured that it will be as un-Facebook-like in its ease and functionality as you can possibly imagine.<br/><br/>Facebook is successful (makes money?) b/c of the number of eyeballs it gets. Companies that create EMR databases and interfaces, similar to what SAP might implement for resource management, make money by selling support. You can't sell support if the software is 1) easy to use and 2) easy to update. Thus, you have incentive to make the code and interface onerous.<br/><br/>On a related note, I'm certain in saying that EMR alone won't make great improvements to healthcare quality. The same number of mistakes will happen - they'll just be automated. This is the same effect caused by MRP software in manufacturing. If the process doesn't work without the software, the software will make the process work incorrectly more quickly. And not to beat a dead horse, but if/when the feds get involved in EMRs (as both candidates seem to like to mention), you can be assured that it will be as un-Facebook-like in its ease and functionality as you can possibly imagine.

Facebook is successful (makes money?) b/c of the number of eyeballs it gets. Companies that create EMR databases and interfaces, similar to what SAP might implement for resource management, make money by selling support. You can’t sell support if the software is 1) easy to use and 2) easy to update. Thus, you have incentive to make the code and interface onerous.

On a related note, I’m certain in saying that EMR alone won’t make great improvements to healthcare quality. The same number of mistakes will happen – they’ll just be automated. This is the same effect caused by MRP software in manufacturing. If the process doesn’t work without the software, the software will make the process work incorrectly more quickly.

]]> By: The Medical Quack http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/09/medical-records-and-facebook.html/comment-page-1#comment-87282 The Medical Quack Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:18:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2008/09/medical-records-and-facebook.html#comment-87282 All mentioned are very valid points and I don't blame physicians for the frustration one bit for the areas of discontent. I know I wrote a full EMR a few years ago just out of the fact that my client didn't like or felt he could not use anything that was out there. I stopped writing though as it became too large of a project for one person to keep up with and maintain as the pace of technology has picked up tremendously. That's why you see me hanging around the blogosphere as having been on the back side directly working with physicians to create solutions, so I can understand everyone' frustration and mine too! Even though I don't continue to write I still have that tremendous insight though on how it needs to work and keep the "clicks" down to a minimum as that was probably one of the most common complaints of all, no matter what EMR or EHR was being used and it's still echoed out there today, alive and well. <br/><br/>New programming technologies hopefully will bring this to practice in the physician's office one day, one in particular is Silverlight from Microsoft. This is not meant to be a commercial by any means, but it is evolving and I have sat in many programming meetings at Microsoft and had conversations with other developers and there are many of the answers in this technology, but it's not quite there yet.<br/><br/>I did a couple posts on the subject after attending HIMMS this year and did a video on the common user interface under construction by the NHS in the UK. That project is open for developers to contribute to as well. It may not be what we end up with here, but it's one good start, and as other great ideas come to the table, it will get better. <br/><br/>I have worked a little with the technology too and am very impressed. Drag and drop, like Facebook, yes! Just what the doctor ordered:)<br/><br/>There is no reason why we need to have so many different interfaces whereby each hospital, each office is a huge learning curve and through the integration process of having web based products, slowly, and I do mean slowly, things are coming to light here. I speak honestly and try to tell it like it is. <br/>It is hard enough seeing the number of patients today required to keep the doors open as time is tight by all means, and to worry about a complicated record system is something that doesn't fit the picture well at all.<br/><br/>I'll give you a couple links here where you can take a look and see what's coming up on the agenda and perhaps this will at least give some feeling of relief. I think this year at the HIMMS convention the feeling was the same from all, everybody get on the same boat, but how that all comes down remains to be seen:) I did the one video live on my tablet, so that was really someone poking around the demo and not orchestrated to look "perfect".<br/><br/>http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/microsoft-common-user-interface-for.html<br/><br/>http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/possibility-of-national-electronic.html<br/><br/>Anyway, I hope this will perhaps shed some positives out there to know there is light at the end of the hall. The user interface along with interoperability to exchange between systems are the name of the game. All mentioned are very valid points and I don’t blame physicians for the frustration one bit for the areas of discontent. I know I wrote a full EMR a few years ago just out of the fact that my client didn’t like or felt he could not use anything that was out there. I stopped writing though as it became too large of a project for one person to keep up with and maintain as the pace of technology has picked up tremendously. That’s why you see me hanging around the blogosphere as having been on the back side directly working with physicians to create solutions, so I can understand everyone’ frustration and mine too! Even though I don’t continue to write I still have that tremendous insight though on how it needs to work and keep the “clicks” down to a minimum as that was probably one of the most common complaints of all, no matter what EMR or EHR was being used and it’s still echoed out there today, alive and well.

New programming technologies hopefully will bring this to practice in the physician’s office one day, one in particular is Silverlight from Microsoft. This is not meant to be a commercial by any means, but it is evolving and I have sat in many programming meetings at Microsoft and had conversations with other developers and there are many of the answers in this technology, but it’s not quite there yet.

I did a couple posts on the subject after attending HIMMS this year and did a video on the common user interface under construction by the NHS in the UK. That project is open for developers to contribute to as well. It may not be what we end up with here, but it’s one good start, and as other great ideas come to the table, it will get better.

I have worked a little with the technology too and am very impressed. Drag and drop, like Facebook, yes! Just what the doctor ordered:)

There is no reason why we need to have so many different interfaces whereby each hospital, each office is a huge learning curve and through the integration process of having web based products, slowly, and I do mean slowly, things are coming to light here. I speak honestly and try to tell it like it is.
It is hard enough seeing the number of patients today required to keep the doors open as time is tight by all means, and to worry about a complicated record system is something that doesn’t fit the picture well at all.

I’ll give you a couple links here where you can take a look and see what’s coming up on the agenda and perhaps this will at least give some feeling of relief. I think this year at the HIMMS convention the feeling was the same from all, everybody get on the same boat, but how that all comes down remains to be seen:) I did the one video live on my tablet, so that was really someone poking around the demo and not orchestrated to look “perfect”.

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/microsoft-common-user-interface-for.html

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/possibility-of-national-electronic.html

Anyway, I hope this will perhaps shed some positives out there to know there is light at the end of the hall. The user interface along with interoperability to exchange between systems are the name of the game.

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