This year at HIMSS in Las Vegas there was no shortage of talk about the “lack of usability” in EHRs. In the final HIMSS16 show daily (Thursday March 3, 2016) there were four articles (“When EHRs cause Harm,” “5 UX steps to Healthy Clinical apps,” “Nurse: We face severe IT usability problems,” and “The leading health IT issues? Poor usability and missing safeguards”) that addressed some aspect of EHR usability...Over the past few years we’ve worked with a number of EHR vendors on improving the usability of their solutions. We’ve noticed a number of items that seem to common to many of the systems, and this list contains some of the most common and highest priority usability issues that should be avoided in your EHR designs.
Feature Articles
The European Commission To Create Level Playing Field For Open Source
By Gijs Hillenius | March 30, 2015
The European Commission (EC) announced on March 27 that it is going to create a level playing field for open source software when procuring new software solutions. Evaluation of open source and proprietary software will take into account their total cost of ownership and exit costs. “For all future IT developments, the Commission shall promote the use of products that support recognized, well-documented and preferably open technical specifications that can be freely adopted, implemented and extended. Interoperability is a critical issue for the Commission, and use of well-established standards is a key factor to achieve it”, the EC announces in a new ten point strategy.
The Open Government Paradox
By Ryan Thornburg | March 26, 2015
In the quarter century since its creation, the Web has been a printing press and broadcast studio for millions of people whose voices would otherwise have been heard by only a few close friends. It opened a whole new world of sharing, and today nearly three-quarters of all Americans say digital technologies have improved their ability to share their ideas and creations with others, according to a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center. That means most of us are opening to the public minute details of our lives—where we eat, who we love, and how we spend money—all out in the open for others to see...
The Top 5 EHR Usability Problems and How to Fix Them
By Bennett Lauber | March 14, 2016
Leader in Clinical Research Tech Reacts to Apple's #ResearchKit
By Cal Collins | March 16, 2015
Apple, Inc. has a remarkable ability to capture the world’s attention when announcing “the next big thing.” They have honed their well-known Reality Distortion Field skills for over 30 years...ResearchKit has grabbed such attention. Maybe not as much as The Watch, but amongst the minority of us who pay attention to such things. And the reactions have been typically polarized—it’s either an “ethics quagmire” or “Apple fixing the world.” But reality rarely presents an either-or proposition...
OpenSpecimen Streamlines Management of Biospecimen Data
By Srikanth Adiga | March 13, 2015
OpenSpecimen is an open source biobanking informatics platform that permits users to enter and retrieve data concerning the collection, storage, quality assurance, and distribution of biospecimens. Its most important feature is the ability to collect high-quality, standards-based data specific to a disease or set of study requirements. OpenSpecimen, previously known as caTissue, was initially developed with U.S. National Cancer Institute funding under the caBIG program. When the caBIG program closed down in 2011, Krishagni Solutions continued the development and support of caTissue while maintaining the open source nature of the product. In 2014, Krishagni renamed the product to OpenSpecimen to indicate that the product can support any disease (i.e. not just cancer) and any specimen type (i.e. not just tissue)...
How Antibiotic Pollution Of Waterways Creates Superbugs
By Michael Gillings | August 7, 2015
Humans pollute the world with many chemicals and some of these affect living things, even at very low concentrations. Endocrine-disrupting compounds, which interfere with hormones, are a good example, but recently more concern has been raised about pollution with antibiotics. The problem is that up to 80% of an antibiotic dose passes straight through the body. So most of the antibiotics used in medical treatment or during animal production may end up in waste water. And waste treatment plants generally don’t remove antibiotics very well. Antibiotic pollution also comes from spreading manure on crop land, or using sewage as fertilizer. Waste water released from hospitals and antibiotic production plants is another major source.
A Case for Governments Developing Open Source Software
By Borislav Iordanov | March 12, 2015
Being a hardcore developer who cares deeply about software, and having worked for local government for the past eight years, I have pondered this question often. On the one hand, a running philosophical theme is that programming is the new literacy, and because software permeates every aspect of our lives, programming amounts to expressing knowledge, just like writing does...software has become the best, most accurate (and sometimes only) expression of business knowledge that an organization possesses.The key point here entails a radical shift in attitude toward in-house development: rather than doing it as a last recourse, in-house development should be the first option to consider...
Jean Piaget & the Usability of Healthcare Software
By Bennett Lauber | March 12, 2015
The usability of healthcare software, or lack thereof, has been a topic of discussion for several years. The problem has become so widespread that the American Medical Association (AMA) has recently issued a framework for improving the ease of use of EHRs that, in part, includes the reduction of 'cognitive load.' Piaget’s theories can be applied to understanding some of the reasons why many EHRs are just too hard to use. They can provide guidance for finding ways to reduce the cognitive workload that so often hinders the user experience of EHR systems. Read More »
Benefits, Challenges and Best Practices of Clinical Trials: Paper vs. Electronic Data Capture
By AJ Wilson | March 11, 2015
On February 25th 2015, Clinovo hosted the 10th Session of the Silicon Valley BioTalks at HP’s headquarters in Palo Alto. The attendees consisted of life science industry professionals with the sole intent of discussing the benefits, challenges and best practices of paper-based clinical studies vs EDC based studies. To add a valuable experience to the conversation, the event featured a panel of 4 clinical trials professionals... Read More »
When the United Nations Calls, MicroMappers Acts
By Patrick Meier | March 18, 2015
Open source and crowdsourcing—uttering these words at a meeting of the United Nations before the year 2010 would have made you persona non grata. In fact, the fastest way to discredit yourself at any humanitarian meeting just five years ago was to suggest the use of open source software and crowdsourcing in disaster response. Then, a tragic earthquake occured in Haiti in 2010, and OpenStreetMap and Ushahidi were deployed in the aftermath. Their use demonstrated the potential of free and open source crowdsourcing platforms in humanitarian contexts. Then, Typhoon Ruby in the Philippines occured five years later. What technology was used?...
South Africa’s Quadruple Burden of Disease
By Pooja Yerramilli | March 28, 2015
Three years ago, I found myself on a bus in South Africa, with fifteen of my college classmates. We were on our way to Kruger National Park, after a week of volunteering and researching in Cape Town. As I stared out the window, appreciating rural South Africa’s beauty, a large billboard, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, caught my attention. “Relay for Life: A Fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.” This poster piqued my curiosity. I had always associated South Africa with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. In fact, I had documented a handful of posters in Cape Town that aimed to combat HIV/AIDS by reducing stigma and encouraging testing...
The Future of Open Source Is a Better User Experience
By Nick Yeates | March 2, 2015
Each year, my favorite open source software survey asks "Where is the future of open source taking us?" I like to try to think far into the future. Not next year or the next five, but where can the horizon of open source and its unique mix of collaborative ideals and communal practices take us? One such "out there" aspect of open source, that I think will eventually come to fruition, is that of UX. When I talk of UX, I mean User eXperience. It is a parent or superset of UI, the User Interface, or what we see. UX handles so much more than UI. The entire session that a human has with a system or piece of software is considered in UX...
Accelerating Identification and Tracking of Pandemic Disease Outbreaks
By Payam Etminani, and Joel Mewton | March 15, 2015
A national biosurveillance program requires the collaboration of multiple federal, state and local agencies to provide a comprehensive view of a health-related event. Bitscopic's Praedico™ biosurveillance platform breaks down the data barriers among organizations with an extensible architecture that can incorporate any kind of data. The platform also delivers high performance by incorporating the latest technologies such as big data, NoSQL databases, and machine learning. Read More »
Halamka: What is the Optimal Future Role for ONC?
By John D. Halamka, MD | March 2, 2015
As Meaningful Use winds down and incentive dollars are fully spent, what is the optimal role for ONC going forward? Some pundits have suggested that ONC step aside and return all aspects of HIT policy and technology to the private sector. Others have suggested top down command and control of HIT including centralized governance to ensure interoperability. Harmony is when all parties feel equally good about the path forward. Compromise is when everyone leaves the table equally unhappy. Here’s my view about the future of ONC that includes points from both sides.
Belgian Hospitals use Open Source Imaging Tool
By Gijs Hillenius | March 1, 2015
Two hospitals in the Belgian city of Liège are using Orthanc to exchange their medical imaging information. Three more hospitals are considering to start using this free and open source software solution for the management of their medical images. This lightweight system, developed at the University Hospital of Liège, helps hospitals to facilitate the exchange between clinical departments, specialists and hospitals. The software allows them to archive and retrieve images, while offering scalability and flexibility.
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