Health Technology

Physicians writing on KevinMD about the technology in the exam room: the electronic record and what it did to the visit, meaningful use, alert fatigue, pajama time, human and AI scribes and whether they give time back, ambient documentation, telemedicine, and what AI can do in clinical practice now and who is responsible when it is wrong. Two maintained records draw on this archive: The electronic health record: what physicians say, in their own words and Artificial intelligence: what physicians say, in their own words.

We need a better way to share information to care for patients

Edward Pullen, MD

Health Technology

September 3, 2010

This evening I went to a meeting of many of the independent physicians in our community who came together to discuss ways we can help each other to remain viable as relatively small independent practices of medicine. Two things about the meeting really hit home for me.

First is how seldom I get to meet socially with my fellow physicians in the community. Now that many of us use hospitalists to take care …

Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) affects patient safety

Margalit Gur-Arie

Health Technology

August 29, 2010

Recently, yet another alarming Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) study made headlines.

According to Healthcare IT News, The Leapfrog Group, a staunch advocate of CPOE, is now sounding the alarm on untested CPOE as their new study “points to jeopardy to patients when using health IT.” Up until now we had inconclusive studies pointing to increased and also decreased mortality in one hospital or another following CPOE implementation, but …

Converting from paper chart to an EMR: Keep daily use in mind

Rosemarie Nelson

Health Technology

August 26, 2010

Maybe you’ve been assuming that when it comes time to go live on your EMR, you’ll simply scan each patient’s old paper chart into the electronic system.

Maybe you haven’t given it much thought because you’re focusing on the change in your work flow when you start to use the EMR to document patient encounters.

Well, it’s time to pay attention to the transfer, because the conversion of the paper chart can …

How patient stories can enhance health websites

Lisa Gualtieri, PhD

Health Technology

August 22, 2010

Stories can enhance health websites because they resonate with health information seekers, who find support and encouragement from the experiences of others like them. Two excellent examples are Weight Watchers’ Success Stories and Livestrong.org’s Survivorship Stories. Both sites include extensive libraries of well-written stories about people’s experiences losing weight and surviving cancer, respectively.

Because of the effectiveness of stories in health websites like these, I challenge my Online Consumer Health students …

Why nurses need better EMR design to care for patients

Jared Sinclair, RN

Health Technology

August 19, 2010

There’s always a lot of stink from physicians over usability problems with EHRs: too many clicks, too many contextual menus, etc. The gist of these complaints is, “Physicians aren’t data entry clerks!” The computer is getting in the way of their interactions with their patients.

Everybody has a finite amount of mental space available at any given moment. Imagine having to transcribe a conversation in real-time. If half of your mental …

Apple’s iPad on medical rounds, a hands on physician review

Kevin

Health Technology

August 13, 2010

by Felasfa Wodajo, MD

Recently, we had the chance to check in with Dr. Henry Feldman. He had posted a detailed summary of his experiences using the iPad as his main interface while rotating on service for a week as a hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital (BIDMC) in Boston. Dr. Feldman is also Chief Information Architect for the Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians.

The summary of the …

AMA: A roadmap to qualifying for EHR incentives

Kevin

Health Technology

August 12, 2010

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

by Steven J. Stack, MD

The high cost of an electronic health record (EHR) system, the often challenging process of implementing new technology into a physician practice, and the difficulty in deciding which system best meets a practice’s needs have deterred many physicians from …

Meaningful use letter for the hospital board and senior leaders

John Halamka, MD

Health Technology

August 10, 2010

In January, I wrote a Do it Yourself presentation on meaningful use for folks to use with their Board and Senior leaders.

Now that its August, there is a different kind of Do it Yourself document – a letter to your Board and Senior leaders outlining your plan and timeframe for certification, measurement of meaningful use, and collection of your stimulus funds. We cannot be completely certain about every detail, …

10 EMR don’ts when choosing electronic medical record

Rosemarie Nelson

Health Technology

August 9, 2010

So, you’ve decided to move forward and get an EMR for your practice, but studies and reports of EMR implementation failures are adding to your anxiety levels.

You’ve probably read scores of rules on how to go about the task — some of them in this column. But today I want to share with you some important things you shouldn’t do.

Medical groups of all sizes and specialties across the country make …

Will patients embrace Health 2.0?

Susannah Fox

Health Technology

August 7, 2010

Someone going by the name “Darthmed” recently posted a comment that stopped me in my tracks:

… The remaining 95% of “patients” out there are not motivated to become informed, or invest the time/energy/money in using any of these tools. These are the folks that know that fast food isn’t healthy, but are just too tired to choose differently. Some (emphasis on some) will do a standard Google search when they …

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Will patients embrace Health 2.0?

Android and iPhone pros and cons for healthcare

Kevin

Health Technology

August 4, 2010

by Jeff Brandt

I wrote an article for KevinMD.com several months ago discussing the benefits of Android for the healthcare market. I also compared Android with the iPhone. I listed the iPhone’s technical shortcomings and really angered the “believers of all things Apple”. That was not my intent.

Apple’s latest release of iPhone 4.0 and their new operating system (OS) 4.0 corrects many of …

Doctors hiring scribes because of electronic medical records

Douglas Perednia, MD

Health Technology

August 2, 2010

I was visiting with my physician colleague Debbie the other day, which is always a pleasure. She is, by far, one of the best dermatologists I know. She had purchased an electronic medical record (EMR or EHR) a year or two ago and I asked her how it was going.

“Pretty well,” she said, “but I’ve had to start using a scribe. It’s just too inefficient any other way. I was …

Let consumers decide if they want the patient centered medical home

Jaan Sidorov, MD

Health Technology

July 29, 2010

Is the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) the panacea for all that ails health care?

Have we exhausted all the allegories related to the term “home?” The answer to both questions apparently is no, thanks to this American Journal of Managed Care article by Timothy Hoff titled The Shaky Foundation of the Patient Centered Medical Home.

Dr. Hoff appropriately shelves PCMH policy and looks at the topic with a market-based perspective. From …

Should we worry about physician privacy in the EHR era?

Margalit Gur-Arie

Health Technology

July 28, 2010

As we move to electronic health records (EHR), the debates over security and privacy are becoming more frequent and more poignant.

We of course have HIPAA laws on the books and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has a Tiger team assembled to recommend privacy and security policies to Secretary Sebelius.

CIOs and entire IT departments are all focused on protecting the privacy of patients and their Personal …

The Apple Genius Bar could learn some bedside manner

Rahul K. Parikh, MD

Health Technology

July 26, 2010

My life is wired by Steve Jobs and Apple. When I was a kid, my first computer was an Apple IIc, followed by Macintosh Plus for college. In residency, I used a Newton for a while to take notes on patients. I have a MacBook, an iPod (I’ve actually had 3 and my wife has had 2), an iPhone, iPhone 3gs; an iPhone 4 on order; an iPad, AirPort Express, …

Final meaningful use rules for electronic health records reaction

Kevin

Health Technology

July 14, 2010

by Joyce Frieden

The Department of Health and Human Services has released its final rule on “meaningful use” of electronic health records with the goal of making it easier for physicians to comply.

“We want these objectives to be ambitious but achievable,” David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, the department’s National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said at a press conference on Tuesday announcing the release of the …

iPhone, Android or Blackberry? The right smartphone for doctors

Iltifat Husain, MD

Health Technology

July 11, 2010

Lately, I’ve often been asked the question, “What type of smartphone should I get?” by my medical peers. I’ve been asked this by physicians, residents, medical students, and others. Many of my friends are entering residency and plan on upgrading to a smart phone, while others already entrenched in residency have phone contracts finishing up.

The answer to this question is not easy. Rather, as Facebook nomenclature would demand, “it’s complicated”. …

How to implement CPOE successfully at your hospital

John Halamka, MD

Health Technology

July 9, 2010

One in every 10 patients admitted to six Massachusetts community hospitals suffered serious and avoidable medication mistakes. This has created a new urgency for all hospitals in the state to install computerized physician order entry (CPOE).

At BIDMC, we implemented CPOE in 2001 and have not had a handwritten order in most areas, except for the 2 days of our network outage in 2002. Implementing CPOE is challenging and requires …

Best free Android medical apps

Kevin

Health Technology

July 7, 2010

by Brett Einerson and Iltifat Husain

Health care professionals and students using Android are probably wondering what free Android apps may be helpful in the health care setting.

Android developers continue to add more apps to the Market that relate to health and medical practice. While the field of apps relevant to health care professionals on Android lags far behind the iPhone OS platform, there are several apps worth noting.

Here, we …

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Best free Android medical apps

How to choose an EHR after a demo

Rosemarie Nelson

Health Technology

July 7, 2010

Selecting an EHR is not just about the demo. But those EHR vendors sure do put a lot of focus on that demo! You need to get beyond the smoke and mirrors and consider how to use that focus to evaluate the solution as it meets your needs and requirements.

Before you even schedule any vendor demonstrations, write down your “must haves.” Can you identify your top 10 requirements?

For example, in …

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How to choose an EHR after a demo