Health Care (A
Special Report): Can
Technology Cure Health Care? How hospitals can make sure digital records live
up to their promise; because so far, they haven't
Goldstein, Jacob.
Wall Street Journal [New York, N.Y] 13 Apr 2010: R.3.
Article url:
Purpose of the Article
Technology was created to simplify daily processes.
In healthcare, technology is supposed to do the same for all healthcare
professionals. However, when healthcare professionals found it difficult to
adapt to and use technology, the main motive behind introducing technology fell
short. To overcome this situation, training to improve fluency in use of healthcare
technology helps. This is not always true for healthcare professionals who are
not comfortable with using technology and believe in traditional methods.
Basic
Findings
Electronic Health Record (EHR) is confidential patient
record stored electronically in hospital database. With the advent of EHR,
keeping track of a patient’s medical history was thought to be simplified theoretically.
Practically, this situation had another story to it. Whenever a patient came to
a hospital for treatment, all the provider had to do was retrieve patient’s EHR,
if the hospital had EHR system in use. This saved the doctor time and energy in
asking medical history from the patient and also saved the patient anxiety in
explaining the medical condition every time to other doctors in cases of
referrals.
For professionals
who are not comfortable with using technology, it becomes very difficult to
adapt to new changes. This makes us think can technology be used to store
healthcare data if difficult to use. If healthcare technology must live up to
its promise, there must be fluency and familiarity in using electronic systems.
Moreover, arrangements for not only training providers but also to helping them
to troubleshoot lacunae in software systems must be made and training can only
possible with provider cooperation. If providers
are unwilling or find it difficult to adapt to the new software system, growth
and improvement in the field of healthcare technology is stunted.
Practical Examples and Implications
Healthcare technology comes with many promises and
convincing improvements for healthcare system. However, use of healthcare technology
has a downside for providers who are not technologically savvy and who take
time to adapt to new computerized systems. So the managerial implication of
this entire issue is to investigate if providers would be comfortable using computerized
systems and only then act accordingly.
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ReplyDeleteI think 95% of the time; technology makes our life easier and better. Are there learning curves? Sure. But after those learning curves, the processes in which the technology was made to make easier, become more efficient and easier.
ReplyDeleteIf healthcare professionals can’t adjust to the times, then that says something about the state of our healthcare system. Technology in healthcare is only going to make professionals life easier and help out the patients by cutting down on waiting times, procedure times, having to explain your situation to different doctors (if the technology can link a patients files together) and many other ways.
If the technology is available, it is the workers JOB to learn that new technology and make the patients trip to the hospital or doctors office more pleasant. Imagine if the rest of the world took the approach in this article. “Oh the technology is hard to learn, let’s just keep building cars by hand instead of using these robots and assembly line, which can produce 4x as many cars” or “I don’t like this technology, it is complicated, so let’s just shut this internet thing down”.
More along the lines of personal experience, my wife works in healthcare (X-rays) and they have had to learn how to use new technology and if they hadn’t, they would be out a job. They students coming out of college were being trained on the new tech and the professionals had a choice, learn the new tech or don’t. The latter could result in finding a new career. My wife has told me on numerous occasions how much easier her job is with the new technology.
For the most part, technology is constantly upgraded to improve efficiencies and hence make work effective. Personnel can learn to keep pace with new technology and be up-to-date by a being enthusiastic to new technological upgrades. They could come across a few hassles initially but once professionals learn how to navigate through the system, processing requests electronically can be faster and convenient as well.
DeleteThis article really hits home with me. Resistance to change within an organization usually occurs when new ideas are implemented because of the organizational culture that exists. Doctors and other healthcare professionals might be reluctant to change because of their familiarity with paper charts or fear of change. The article mentions some pitfalls of using an EHR system such as long lists of patient health data and problems with querying, however there are many benefits of using EHRs which the author fails to mention. For example, speaking from experience, having paper charts can be exhausting for healthcare personnel. If departments are spread out, it can be a hassle on staff when they have to transfer charts to different departments. Sometimes the medical record department is located in far proximity which causes acquiring records to be very time-consuming, especially in emergency situations. Furthermore, paper charts can easily be misplaced. Electronic systems combat these two problems by allowing fast transferability through a common database and by storing the data on computers.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, there needs to be a comfortable way resistors can integrate the new technology in their practices without feeling overwhelmed. Providing additional training could make the switch easier, especially for older generation professionals that may not be proficient using technology. Also, setting contingency plans for electronic system failure, can play a role in reducing the fear of change some employees have. Hiring specialized healthcare IT professional can be another solution to ease this fear as well. Dealing with ideas that drive culture change can be a daunting task, but given the right tools, it becomes manageable.
I completely agree with you. Electronic charts can be faster to access and hence more time effective. Moreover, it is easier to access electronic charts merely with a few mouse clicks. However, adequate electronic data should be backed up as compute systems are prone to be corrupted over time.
DeletePeople resist to change therefore the change should be communicate in an effective way where the people adopting to change can see the use or need of the change and are open to adopt to it. It is the similar story for almost every industry not just the health care professional who finds it difficult to adapt to the new technology. However, the change needs to be made for the benefit of both parties. Although the change has been resisted by the health care professional, they can be convinced and provided with the best training to make the best use of the technology.
ReplyDeleteAs an incentive to help aid change, recognition programs and benefits can be provided to aid a smooth transition over to a new system. These measures shall likely boost professionals to be more receptive and embrace change.
DeleteTechnology always helps to make the task easier, fast and convenient, not only in all business industries but also in every step of our life. But to implement technology, or further improve the existing technology, is always resisted by the people. They think the way they are doing a specific task is the only and the easiest way to do that job. To implement change, it is necessary to convince people that adopting a new technology will make their task easier, fast and convenient, and will also improve their accuracy by explaining the benefits of that technology. It also requires appropriate and timely training to be in pace with the technology because training improves the confidence in people regarding the technology. This applies not only in health industry but also in all type of industries.
ReplyDeletePeople are, for the most part, averse to change. To help them overcome this aversion, letting them know that new technology shall only make processes easier shall to a certain extent convince them to embrace and learn new technology.
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