It’s still all about people.

Despite the tumultuous events of this year, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have remained focused on the central part of their jobs: treating and caring for people.

Many providers express growing frustration with their EHRs, and having to adjust their workflow to meet the needs of the technology. Problems with IT usability often contribute to physician burnout, which is why I decided to pursue the field of clinical informatics. Why should technology create burdens for care teams, instead of making their jobs easier? And, more importantly, what can we do about it?

In 2020, we know that physicians are facing challenges like never before. As technology transforms at a rapid pace to support clinicians, we have had the opportunity to connect with a number of thought leaders in the field.

When new providers enter the field, they need to be ready to deliver quality care to patients, and it’s important that they’re equipped with healthcare technology experience to complement their medical expertise.

In addition, the continually changing healthcare IT landscape poses another challenge for medical professionals.

For our latest Thought Leader podcast, I spoke with Dr. Andy Burchett, CMIO of Avera Health, about his organization’s rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, MEDITECH's Carol Bird had an opportunity to sit down with Dr. Doug Kanis, an Internist and CMIO at Pella Regional Health Center (Pella, IA). They discussed how Expanse's intuitive design, mobility, and interoperability helps physicians increase efficiency and improve patient care. The excerpts below are a few highlights from their conversation. To learn more about his experience using Expanse, watch our video interview with Dr. Kanis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has called for everyone to do their part to keep others safe and healthy. For many, this means staying at home as much as possible and practicing social distancing. For me, as CMIO of the Beth Israel Deaconess community hospitals, this has meant deploying numerous initiatives in response to the pandemic, from symptom screening to dashboards to telehealth.

As an emergency medicine physician, this has also meant working on the frontlines at my organization's emergency departments and volunteering in New York City, which ultimately led to me contracting the virus myself.

Recently Leah Farina, MEDITECH vice president of client services, had an opportunity to discuss the impact of virtual visits and telemedicine on patients and providers at Citizens Memorial Healthcare in Bolivar, Missouri. She spoke with Louis Harris, MD, a family medicine physician and Chief Medical Information Officer at CMH, a small, level III Trauma Center in southwest Missouri with 86 licensed beds, 32 primary and speciality services, and seven long-term care facilities serving seven counties.

The World Health Organization estimates that 134 million adverse events occur each year due to unsafe care in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries, resulting in some 2.6 million deaths, with most adverse events being preventable. 

EHRs have gotten a lot of flak from physicians for disrupting patient care in recent years, from poor navigation on information overload to meaningless data entry creating documentation geared for billing rather than clinical care. However, it’s important to remember that not all systems are created equal — at least in terms of usability.