Comment Why would anyone want to use lousy software? (Score 2, Interesting) 294
However, the biggest stop to systems like this is the medical staff. Doctors seem to think they're above having to enter medical details - as it's mere clerical work (I've heard: "I didn't spend years at med. school, just to be a secretary") and they, personally, don't gain anything from a system such as this. Until somoeone gieves the profession as a whole a kick up the rear, this kind of prima-donna attitude will prevail.
I speak as a general practitioner of many decades, and I've been playing with computers since the early 70's. The main reason medical records software is not accepted is that it sucks.
My 24" screen holds far less information than a bunch of scribbled A4 pages. Time is what I lack, and scrolling through pages & sections on a screen is just not very efficient.
Yes, there are some great aspects in most of the software I have used over the last decade, but as far as being a place to store info that I want to easily access & collate later, all too often it is too bloody slow & awkward.
Except for one feature of electronic records, I would go back to pencil & paper.
The only really successful feature was the first; writing scripts & recording the fact that a script was written. In the 'old' days, you would write a script, then the phone would ring, on hanging up, you forgot to record what you had just prescribed, leading to problems down the track. Software to prescribe & automatically store a record of that transaction has been fantastically useful for both myself & the patient.
I have sat here for some 10 minutes, and the only other feature I like is that my notes are more legible to me down the track. As a computer nerd, I want to love these systems, but so far they are not very good.
