Meaningful Use - Is There a Map For That?

We launched a new solution last week to help hospitals achieve Meaningful Use (see press release here). It seems like implementing EHR systems is an enormous undertaking - but completely necessary for hospitals to move into the 21st century. I wonder what the expectations are - internally, at the hospital. Sometimes we look at technology like its the answer to all our problems. "There must be an app for that somewhere," we say as we search through our pockets. Its good to have guidance on how to use these technologies "meaningfully", but I can't help but notice that all this "stuff" "means" nothing without the person behind it.

Like, how do executives plan to train their staff? Dirk Stanley, MD talks about the role of clinical informatics in an article published by Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare. He talks about workflow being 80% of the solution and technology 20%. Its great article - you should read it.

But I still think that workflow feels like such a distant and stale concept - void of the "people" part. Isn't it the people who make healthcare what it is? Patients included? Data uploaded into the EMR won't get there without a conversation between the patient and the care provider. The buttons won't hit themselves.

I equate this to my iPhone. Lets face it - iPhones are incredible, but, its nothing without me. My husband jokes that if we ever get divorced, its because I left him for my iPhone. I wonder how patient care will be impacted with everyone's head in the new technologies. In all seriousness - its the place where the human experience and the innovative technology meet that makes it meaningful.

I'd like to see more talk about the human application. I guess the published "meaningful use criteria" is the "map for that". And maps don't mean anything if you don't know how to read them.

I believe in my work.

Claire