Computer Woes
Filed under: Medicine
It has come to my attention that hospital computer programs are either:
1) Created by a programmer who has no knowledge of medicine, or
2) Created by someone who knows medicine, but has no knowledge of programming.
Our hospital recently instituted a new computer program to record patient information. Before, there was a 1 page sheet in the chart that showed al the pertinent vital signs: temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate, respirations, daily weight, intake, output and so on. Sure it was hand written, but it was simple to find and simple to read.
Now, the computer prints out a daily summary for the patient. This contains the identical information that has always been available, but in 6-pages of computerized printout. Same information, thicker charts, harder to find data. Just because something can be computerized doesn’t mean it should.
The printout is full of useless charts and graphs. My favorite is the computerized temperature graph that is printed at the top of the first page. The temperature scale runs from 80 degrees to 107 degrees. 80 degrees! I’ve never seen a temperature under 95. And on the other end, 107 degrees is way too high to be practical. If the patient does spike a fever, it still shows up as a straight line because the scale is so poorly thought out.
I’m sure there is a good program out there somewhere. And in ten years, we just may have it here.
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July 19th, 2004 at 8:24 am
You have the classic case there of a programmer — probably a consultant — who never checks with the end users in constituting his plan. In my line of work, there’s a similar demarcation. Very few programmers know both the business side AND the programming side. One refuses to work with the other, for some reason. So they’re code produces no errors, but it also produces useless results and incorrect analyses.
This could all be solved by having the programmer spend some time with the end user. Rarely does it happen, though, either because the programmer’s boss in on top of him to get things done NOW, or because the programmer’s ego is too big to admit he doesn’t know anything.
I am a programmer who knows enough about my business — and isn’t afraid to ask when I don’t. Thus, I’ve kept my job for six years. When rounds of layoffs come, those who don’t know both sides are often the first to go.
You’d think they’d learn. Or start teaching this stuff in school. It seems like common sense to me.
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