As we follow the determined efforts in the US to push EHR/EMR interesting to read that they have many of the problems that we see in our own marketplace.  What do we do for medics who do not type or do not type quickly & accurately?

Interesting piece about the resistance to having doctors spend their time typing in the US.  This in particular relates of use of CPOE – if you don’t enter the data then you don’t get the warning (then and there) about what you are ordering.  Abd, in the US, Meaningful Use has been set up to incentivise medics to use EHR – including CPOE.

This is nothing new.  Keyboard skills have been a challenge in banking & finance, retail, engineering & construction.  Having experience of pushing out ERP solutions across multinationals have seen lots of these challenges.  We need to keep the eye on the end game – capture the data once and leverage the data.  Can definitely apply also in healthcare.

Obviously application design/ interface and relevant devices all have a role to play in making all of this a lot easier.  We want consultants, nurses, pharmacists, doctors all updating the EHR.  So we need to design smartly, support users and provide relevant and customised training.  Lastly, those inputting the data, must see the end benefit – safer experience for patients, less mistakes by professionals, streamlined processes.  All of this has to pay for the effort expended in inputting the data.