This is awkward but I think we need to stop saying thank you. At least in the EHR. Take the health professional who responds to 25 staff messages per day. With all dutifully addressed in the early afternoon, by the end of the day they’ll often find their inbox full again. And each one with nothing more than a ‘thank you.’ A kind of warm and fuzzy last word in an ... Continue Reading about The EHR Thank You Crisis
Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff – How to Clean Clinical Workflows
If you want to see how the machine of medicine can be changed, read Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff in the New England Journal of Medicine. Under the leadership of Dr. Melinda Ashton at Hawaii Pacific Health, getting rid of stupid stuff was initiated to improve the inefficiencies of health professionals at the ground level. This program sought nominations for EHR ... Continue Reading about Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff – How to Clean Clinical Workflows
The Frightening Reality of a Child’s Digital Footprint
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt had this chilling prediction about a child’s digital footprint in The New Digital Age in 2013 (required reading for everyone): Near-permanent data storage will have a big impact on how citizens operate in virtual space. There will be a record of all activity and associations online, and everything added to the Internet will become part ... Continue Reading about The Frightening Reality of a Child’s Digital Footprint
White Space in Communication
I’ve been listening to more podcasts recently. I’m trying to understand how style, format, and white space come together to share information in audio format. White space and the case of the crunched podcast I listened to a sports podcast recently that made me think. But not in a good way. It was a really interesting topic discussed by a couple of guys not super ... Continue Reading about White Space in Communication
Your Digital Footprint is Like a Beachball
Most of us were raised in a world where information is static and fixed. If you’re a later generation physician, information lived in places like libraries, textbooks and encyclopedias. Where it landed, it sat. Not so much anymore. And that has real implications for our digital footprint. Information is now linear and lives in a stream. The good news is while that ... Continue Reading about Your Digital Footprint is Like a Beachball
Data Confrontation – Who is Responsible for a Patient’s Data?
This week marks the release of the Apple Watch Series 4 with the capability of EKG. From their wrist, users can record a rhythm that they can send to their doctor. Through most of history, data like EKGs were collected by hospitals and health professionals. This changes things. As watches move from fitness trackers to medical devices, questions emerge such as, what ... Continue Reading about Data Confrontation – Who is Responsible for a Patient’s Data?