Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA
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J Am Med Inform Assoc · Jun 2013
The hazard of software updates to clinical workstations: a natural experiment.
Emergency department (ED) electronic tracking boards provide a snapshot view of patient status and a quick link to other clinical applications, such as a web-based image viewer client to view current and previous radiology images from the picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). We describe a case where an update to Microsoft Internet Explorer severed the link between the ED tracking board and web-based image viewer. ⋯ Single-click user interfaces that transfer user and patient contexts are efficient mechanisms to link disparate clinical systems. Maintaining hazard analyses and rigorously testing all software updates to clinical workstations, including seemingly minor web-browser updates, are important to minimize the risk of unintended consequences.
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J Am Med Inform Assoc · Jun 2013
The next-generation electronic health record: perspectives of key leaders from the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
The rapid change in healthcare has focused attention on the necessary development of a next-generation electronic health record (EHR) to support system transformation and more effective patient-centered care. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is developing plans for the next-generation EHR to support improved care delivery for veterans. ⋯ The need to reconcile different EHR initiatives currently underway in the VA, as well as opportunities for data sharing, will be critical for continued progress. These findings may support the VA's effort for evolutionary change to its information system and draw attention to necessary research and development for a next-generation information system and EHR nationally.