Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

The paradox of health IT: Improving care, impeding communication

Juan Pablo Zhenlio, MD
Physician
March 12, 2023
Share
Tweet
Share

Advancements in health IT have created ease and efficiency in delivering health care that has never been seen before. Electronic ordering and prescribing have reduced medication errors from misinterpreting handwritten information. The interoperable transmission of critical patient history, lab work, and digital imaging from one hospital to another has reduced costs and unnecessary extraneous tests. Virtual care and telehealth utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized how patient encounters are performed and are becoming a standard of health delivery. The digital collection, aggregation, and analysis of population health data provides new insights into social determinants of health that can be used to understand better and improve our communities. Meanwhile, advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence represent exciting new frontiers in future medicine.

As a recent graduate from residency, I have experienced and integrated these technological tools into my practice. I embrace any innovation that can enhance the patient and provider experience. With that said, in this portion of the essay, I become a curmudgeon surgeon and lament one of the greatest downfalls I have seen with the rise of new technologies – the decline of direct communication between providers.

Direct person-to-person communication has always been an essential component of patient care delivery. Communication exists between two colleagues discussing a patient’s complex management; between a primary provider and a consulting specialist; between provider and nurse; and between provider and patient. The ease of new technology has obviated many needs for direct communication, and I believe that is a detriment to medicine.

In my few years of practice, I have noticed an increasing lack of communication in health care. Consulting providers and multi-disciplinary teams caring for a single patient can find themselves communicating with one another through electronic charting. These messages would not be read until the next time a provider opens the chart and combs through each new note. Often, critical messages and information become diluted within a note, resulting in delays in care.

Transferring medical records from one facility to another can result in critical information being hidden within hundreds of scanned document pages. Nurses will send electronic messages about declining patient vital signs that become unread. Physicians will order something STAT, yet that order gets unacknowledged. There are just a few of the countless examples of technology intending to improve patient care communication, however, having unintended consequences of impeding it. In many of the described situations, something as simple as a phone call between providers could have expedited and prevented patient care delays. It may not have a fancy user interface, but a phone call is often the most direct and efficient way to communicate information.

Innovations in health technology will continue. However, we must recognize that it cannot replace poor communication between providers. Health IT tools must not supplant provider-to-provider communication but augment and enhance it.

Juan Pablo Zhenlio is a general surgeon.

Prev

Sleep matters: Addressing the neglected vital sign

March 12, 2023 Kevin 3
…
Next

Loving our pets through loss: Coping with the death of a family member

March 12, 2023 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Health IT, Surgery

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Sleep matters: Addressing the neglected vital sign
Next Post >
Loving our pets through loss: Coping with the death of a family member

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Improve mental health by improving how we finance health care

    Steven Siegel, MD, PhD
  • Health care is not a service commodity

    Peter Spence, MD, MBA
  • Why the health care industry must prioritize health equity

    George T. Mathew, MD, MBA
  • Proactive care is the linchpin for saving America’s health care system

    Ronald A. Paulus, MD, MBA
  • To fix health care, ask patients to change their understanding of how a health care system should work

    Richard Young, MD

More in Physician

  • How shared language saved a patient from isolation

    Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD
  • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

    Curtis G. Graham, MD
  • The physician who turned burnout into a mission for change

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • Time theft: the unseen harm of abusive oversight

    Kayvan Haddadan, MD
  • Why more doctors are leaving clinical practice and how it helps health care

    Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA
  • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • How shared language saved a patient from isolation

      Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD | Physician
    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Clinical ghosts and why they haunt our exam rooms

      Kara Wada, MD | Conditions
    • High blood pressure’s hidden impact on kidney health in older adults

      Edmond Kubi Appiah, MPH | Conditions
    • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How declining MMR vaccination rates put future generations at risk

      Ambika Sharma, Onyi Oligbo, and Katrina Green, MD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 1 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • How shared language saved a patient from isolation

      Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD | Physician
    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Clinical ghosts and why they haunt our exam rooms

      Kara Wada, MD | Conditions
    • High blood pressure’s hidden impact on kidney health in older adults

      Edmond Kubi Appiah, MPH | Conditions
    • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How declining MMR vaccination rates put future generations at risk

      Ambika Sharma, Onyi Oligbo, and Katrina Green, MD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

The paradox of health IT: Improving care, impeding communication
1 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...