“Wrong Patient”

This entry is part 11 of 44 in the series Words

Updates, December 2014, October 2016: short addenda at end. Speaking of “Bad Design Killing” a big part of the discussion at the ACEP Informatics Section meeting in San Francisco this month was about one particular usability problem with CPOE: entering orders on the wrong patient. I’ve done this myself – as far as I know […]

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RHIO

This entry is part 10 of 44 in the series Words

At a recent meeting, one of my partners noted how good for patients and emergency physicians it would be if we could access medical records from the rival hospital system in town. It certainly would, but given the controversies between the big players (one giant system that includes hospitals, physicians and a major regional medical […]

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Color

This entry is part 9 of 44 in the series Words

  When designing a computer screen, we have to keep in mind one of the defining elements of the computer monitor: its ability to display many colors. Having desktop publishing software does not mean we know how to design a magazine, and just because we have color monitors does not automatically mean that we know […]

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Efficiency

This entry is part 7 of 44 in the series Words

It is said, usually by vendors, that installing an EDIS (Emergency Department Information System) will negatively impact ED efficiency for a short time, and then efficiency will increase to levels higher than before, thus: But ED Information Technology pundit Dr. Todd Taylor (emergency physician, past Speaker of the national Council of the American College of […]

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Meaningful Use

This entry is part 6 of 44 in the series Words

  Meaningful Use has become a less-meaningful phrase in the USA over the past year or so, at least to those of us who work in the ED. Intentionally or no, politicians twist and deform the English language like no others. Their latest target, at least as far as Emergency Department computer systems are concerned, […]

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