Dialog-Box Rooms

This entry is part 13 of 44 in the series Words

An experimental study recently (late 2011) ballyhooed in the press looks at how we tend to forget things as we move into a doorway, and that walking back into the room doesn’t help you recover the memories. (Duh. I could have told anyone this. As could everyone.) Not sure why prior studies on the same […]

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Cognitive Friction

This entry is part 12 of 44 in the series Words

The Whorf-Sapir hypothesis says that our language shapes how we think. It’s been moderately debunked in recent decades, but it’s likely true, at least in small part. And one of those small parts is when someone coins a new word that encapsulates a new idea. There has been a debate within philosophy since Plato’s time […]

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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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Lessons from Tufte

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Tracking Systems

Most users (myself included) spend most of their time in front of a computer in a kind of fuzzy autopilot mode, and anything that creates ripples on that placid lake of unawareness is going to be noticed as a disproportionately significant problem. –David Harris, creator of Pegasus Mail In Icons, Pegagogic Vectors, Forms Design and […]

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Where is my [fill in the blank]? and Passive Tracking

This entry is part 4 of 7 in the series Tracking Systems

Where is the Chart!?!? If you visit different EDs, one of the most common tracking-type refrains you hear is “Where is Room 5’s chart? I’ve been looking for it for fifteen minutes!” Such problems delay ED patient care, and are one of the great motivators for moving to an all-electronic chart, one that can be […]

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