patient safety
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Tech Fund To 'Catalyse' NHS IT - Bryant
The £260m fund announced by the Department of Health as a boost for e-prescribing will be linked to NHS England’s guidance on electronic patient records to “catalyse” the adoption of IT in the NHS. Read More »
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Technology Problems Impact Electronic Health Records Causing Patient Safety Concerns
Disappointingly, a new study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association finds patient safety issues related to EHRs persist long after the 'go live' date....
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Texas Medical Association Slams ONC Safety Plan
The health IT safety action plan proposed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in December is not specific enough to succeed, according to recent comments made by the Texas Medical Association. Read More »
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The Biggest Mistake Doctors Make
Misdiagnoses are harmful and costly. But they're often preventable. [...] Such devastating errors lead to permanent damage or death for as many as 160,000 patients each year, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Read More »
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The Challenges For Medical Device Interoperability
Hospitals have complicated and connected technology ecosystems. Few places have such a diverse array of machines, skills and information, all attempting to coexist in a stressful decision making environment. Each department has an array of devices and a staff with highly specialised skills. Read More »
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The Cost-Benefit Calculation Of Electronic Health Records Systems
It's discouraging to read that more than half of physicians say the costs of electronic health records systems outweigh the financial benefits. But it's also heartening to see that, in the survey of 1,200 employed and independent physicians, most agree the benefits to patient care do justify the investment. Read More »
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The EHR Debacle: Has Organized Medicine Failed Us?
By now, it should be no secret that physicians in the United States, although largely receptive to the idea of electronic health records (EHRs), are widely dissatisfied with the current state of the art, and with the way that EHR adoption is being implemented.[1] Indeed, Congress[2] has shown continuing – but sometimes seemingly perfunctory – interest in the concerns of physicians and other health care providers, and I am at this point pessimistic about seeing any results of its efforts in the near future unless a more fundamental change is made in our approach. As Einstein noted, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them.”
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The Flaws Of Electronic Records
Drexel University's Scot Silverstein is a leading critic of the rapid switch to computerized medical charts, saying the notion that they prevent more mistakes than they cause is not proven. Read More »
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The Gary And Mary West Foundation And West Health Institute Create New Center For Medical Interoperability To Improve Patient Safety And Lower Costs Of Health Care
The Gary and Mary West Foundation has provided initial grant funding to the Center for Medical Interoperability, Inc. The Center, a newly formed, independent nonprofit organization, will be led by hospitals and health systems to drive rapid, widespread and sustained interoperability of medical technology to improve patient safety and lower health care costs. [...] Read More »
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The Politics of the EHR: Why we’re not where we want to be and what we need to do to get there
By now, it seems abundantly clear that the vast potential offered by universal adoption of electronic health records (EHR) has not been achieved. Indeed, the fulfillment of that potential seems a long way off. Unsolved problems with interoperability, usability, safety, and security, to name a few, remain, and continue to pose barriers to universal adoption. There is ample evidence in the medical literature, of the unsolved problems of the EHR. Indeed, two recent reports that offer (probably inadequate) solutions highlight the difficulties that exist with the EHR. The proliferation of these problems has only increased with the increase in adoption of the EHR by physicians and institutions. The Texas Medical Association has asked the (at the time) ONC, Farhad Mostashari, MD, to establish a health IT patient safety czar.1 Read More »
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The Rise of 'Technology-Enabled' Clinical Research Companies
Eric Hodgins, senior vice president, research and development technology solutions at QuintilesIMS, told us there are a number of dynamics “significantly transforming the industry and driving an increase in technology-enabled clinical research.” Notably, there are two macro trends: the pace of innovation in scientific research and the explosion of technological advancements...
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The Story of How our Health Informatics Textbook Came into Being
I have been asked many times how and why I became interested in Health Informatics and how that led to the writing and self-publication of our textbook, Health Informatics: Practical Guide. The textbook is now in its 7th edition and has been adopted by a large number of universities for their health informatics courses. More co-authors have come on board, and we are now looking at publishing other textbooks. Thus we thought this would be a good point to tell the story.
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There’s More to ePrescribing Standards Than You Think
Dr. Harper’s thoughtful post brings a critical issue to light: the need for increased industry awareness and adoption of the full functionality that already exists in ePrescribing standards – going beyond the core requirements of Meaningful Use. ePrescribing is important in improving both the quality of patient care and patient safety. It provides a key point of communication between care providers, and can help improve patient compliance with treatment regimens...
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This Algorithm Accidentally Predicted Which Hospital Patients Were Most Likely To Die
Sepsis is one of the biggest hospital hazards you’ve maybe never heard of. When the body overreacts to an infection, it can trigger widespread inflammation that can in turn cause tissue damage and organ failure. It causes one-third to one-half of all deaths in US hospitals. But because sepsis’s symptoms, like fever and difficulty breathing, sometimes look a lot like other illnesses, it can be hard to detect, especially in the early stages. So a team at Banner Health, a hospital system in Phoenix, Arizona, turned to computer science for a solution...
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Threat Matrix: Malware And Hacking Pose Dangers To Medical Devices
'We’re starting to attach medical devices to electronic health records, and they’re not secure.' Read More »
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