This week has kept me busy dealing with issues surrounding our various clinical systems and how they fit, or don’t fit, into various processes. If you’ve been reading this blog then you are probably a little too familiar with one of the problems; the dreaded allergy issues which I’ve discussed here and here. The issue runs much deeper then I’m willing to go into here, but suffice it to say that it’s been a real pain in the rear. The other significant issue has to do with bar code medication administration and “things we can’t do” with our current system.
Anyway, I’ve been in meeting after meeting this week listening to people argue over things that I consider outside of our control and basically spending a lot of time talking about what our systems can’t do. As you can imagine the discussions can become quite energetic. During one particularly heated discussion I asked a key player to forget about what we couldn’t change and asked them to focus on the issues that could be controlled. The end result was a general consensus that we could control and correct approximately 60% of the problem by working within the confines of the systems and deal with the remaining 40% through education and accountability. The arguing took 60 minutes, the ultimate solution took 15.
Believe me, I am painfully aware of the shortcomings of our various clinical systems, but I really don’t see the need to dwell on things that are outside of my control; a lesson I learned from my wife. Oh sure, I get frustrated and vent every now and then, but the bottom line is that I have to work within the limitations of the systems put in front of me. You see engineers do it all the time; focus on how to make it better not on what can’t be done. I think healthcare professionals could learn a lot from engineers. Just a thought.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jerry Fahrni, Roberto M. Merza III. Roberto M. Merza III said: Dealing with the shortcomings of healthcare information systems http://ff.im/-bkO7P (via @JFahrni) [...]