Information technology has had a huge and increasing influence in the healthcare field. Today’s modern hospitals have installed or are planning electronic medical records (EMR) systems that offer major efficiencies in operations and improved patient care. Government initiatives in the US will increase the volume and accelerate the pace of technology in medical facilities. But in the healthcare field as in other areas, progress isn’t dependent on technology alone. Issues of politics, funding and end-user acceptance may have an even more profound influence.
In the day-to-day life of individual practitioners, the lynch pin of a healthcare system, technology is a double-edged sword. If newly mandated systems save time for the primary care physician, they will offer great benefit. But if they require additional data entry and upend the day-to-day practice, these systems will add stress to facilities already struggling to provide adequate patient care.
The Web has already radicalized the relationship between the patient and the medical system. When managed and directed by knowledgeable medical personnel, online resources can reinforce background information for the patient. This can relieve the doctor from providing details that are often not well received at the time of diagnosis. But incomplete data and misunderstood medical information in the hands of patients who don’t fully understand the meaning of what they read can complicate the doctor-patient relationship.
Making the marriage of technology and medicine succeed is not so much about new technology. It’s about appropriate application of existing technology after a thorough understanding of needs and an analysis of current processes. This is no mean task under the pressure of a health system that is already overwhelmed by increased patient loads and constrained by insurance and government regulations.
Bryan Bergeron provides healthcare informatics consulting in a variety of areas including medical-device analysis and hospital-information systems. He has also published extensively on this topic.