This is one of my absolute pet peeves to discuss...there are tons of articles about getting physicians to buy in to new technology and YES we all agree you need to have the physicians buy in...and in today's world Tablet PCs are a very involved part of the process. Ok, a few notes from my experience and my feelings on the subject...
I have sat in meetings with IT and IS department members who sit there and still take notes on scrap pieces of paper....
and now these same folks tell the physicians how great tablet PCS are...excuse me...the pot calling the kettle black here...you bet! If they are so great and work so well, how come the CEO, CIO, and other administrative personnel don't use one...Good Question...and they can't really involve the physician as they don't use one, so what gives them any credibility to sell this to the physicians...if you want to sell the physicians and have them realize what a great tool tablet PCs and mobility are...well start at the top and be a model...and don't come across like an expert when you are on the side of the table that has not taken advantage and learned the skills yourself....after all anyone who sits in meetings and takes notes, no matter who you are can use one. IT, IS, and administrators listen up...help yourself at the same time...and you will have much better results in getting the physicians to buy in. I sell and recommend tablet PCs and do I do the same, YOU BET! I take all my notes on the unit and use it for dictation, it is my portable office...it has value to me as a consultant...gee just imagine how valuable it could be to a CIO or IT manager...take notes in meetings..
After all what incentive do the health care personnel have to buy in if top management doesn't partake...and more importantly the IT and IS departments. If paperless technology and data input are so important to the future growth and data management, then why, Mr. IT are you still sitting there chopping trees?
I attended a recent launch of the Microsoft CRM software program and the same mentality with resistance to change is alive and well there too. Folks would rather work twice as hard, poking around their PCs for data that is easily brought under one roof with customer relations software. In essence, you have the same battle going on here as you do with paperless health records...old dogs who won't learn new tricks and spend hours on projects that could be done with the right software in 10 minutes. Go figure!
I attended the HIMMS conference this year and I felt like the "Lone Ranger" out there as I saw many others visiting booths and gathering any information just as I was doing, but did any of 
them bother to take notes on a tablet...I sure didn't see any...there were lot's of them out there for demonstration purposes, but was anyone using it as a tool to take notes like I did...NO...and so sad too as I returned with a complete set of accurate notes and besides that, the folks I did talk to appreciated the fact that I was taking notes, it shows interest and I didn't have to chop any trees in the process. It worked!
Do you want to get the physicians involved....get yourself involved first as a role model...and partake in a little mobility of your own, get a tablet and see how your own efficiency and time skills will benefit along the line. BD
A few days after the University of California Medical Center in Irvine went live with its new electronic medical record system, a letter arrived on the desk of the hospital administrator. "I think the person who chose the [EMR] system should be shot first and then fired," the note read. She and others shared success stories, as well as lessons learned, of implementing new technology. The common thread was the realization that for major IT projects to be successful, physicians need to be on board, early and often. The solution, many found, was engaging doctors in leadership roles before implementation.
AMNews: April 7, 2008. Selling the bitter EMR pill (HIMSS meeting) ... American Medical News
"New" technology/IT is something like the old song, "A teenage Romance". . . a function of hormones. Today's medical youngsters don't have much of a problem as computer file management is part of their upbringing with most having sprouted at least one, if not two electronic appendages. I remember my first day in Chemistry 101 (in the very early 50's). The instructor said he would give anyone a zero for the day if he saw them writing notes on anything other than in their notebook! So be it for today's technology - the PC tablet is the modern "notebook" and writing on anything else "unbound" does deserve a zero for the day.
ReplyDeleteBruce Nachman
Exec. VP, Protexx, Inc.
Thank you for the comments...and yes we just simply don't have the time today to shuffle through tons of paper when the tablet pc can put it all in one convenient place for us!
ReplyDeleteIf I had to start digging through paper files today to find the information I need, my clients indeed would get very impatient with waiting!