I recently saw a newsletter done by User Centric that had a couple interesting pieces.

First, Dr. Wendy Yee writes, “Most HCPs will bluntly tell you that they did not go through medical training to become data entry clerks. They also are highly sensitive to time requirements because their days can be brutally compressed.” Sounds a lot like my post EHR Software Makes Doctors Secretaries.

Dr. Yee also provides an interesting list of multiple items that are simultaneously going through a doctor’s mind while using an EHR:

• There must be a way to make order entry faster…
• What was the procedure code for that variation of a genetic test?
• Let’s see, should I order Test ABC or Test DEF (or both)?
• I need to check for Jane Doe’s lab results from yesterday.
• Why isn’t that med listed under antivirals?
• What does that obscure lab reading mean?
• Has the patient’s problem list changed in the last day or so?
• Why do I have to enter patient notes *this* way when the EHR at the teaching hospital has me enter it the other way?
• Are there additional contraindications?
• When was the patient’s last MRI?
• I’m running behind, but I still need to enter this script.

Is it any wonder that it’s not a simple task to make an EHR that a doctor will consider usable? Not impossible, but certainly a challenge.

User Centric will be at HiMSS, Chicago! Booth #3382 They’ll be demonstrating how eye tracking can be utilized to uncover opportunities to improve user interfaces. No, I don’t have any financial connection with them, but eye tracking is really cool technology. Plus, I’m happy to support anyone that I think can make a difference when it comes to making EMR software more usable.

A very passionate poster on EMRUpdate recently found something anyone familiar with CCHIT already knew. It’s just really interesting that CCHIT seems to have put this in writing for all to read. Unfortunately, far too many doctors haven’t read this very important information. I’ll do my part and share it here:

“CCHIT, in fact, recognizes some of its own limitations. Its Certification Handbook states: Our criteria at this point can only represent broad, basic capabilities, and . . . these may prove insufficient for some practice specialties, or may be inappropriate or excessive for others; . . . our criteria do not assess product usability, implementation service, product maintenance, technical and application support; and other facts.”
Source: Finding a Cure: The Case for Regulation And Oversight of Electronic Health Records Systems, Harvard Journal of Law & Technology 2008 vol. 22, No. 1, by Hoffman and Podgurski, p. 133-4: