And at times doctors have resisted change. Some still refuse to put a patient's identification number into the digital dictation system that goes to patient records. They punch in a series of 9's instead, which requires it to be corrected on paper. Most doctors love the system, Dr. Seger said. But there is a bell-shaped curve.
Some doctors still think that faxes are a Communist plot.
Instability among makers of all things technical has also presented problems. For instance, the center does lab work for the state's prisons and bought a system that connected the two. Vendors of e-gadgets often promise more than they can deliver and do not listen to feedback from doctors. F ROM one such vendor's point of view, doctors are not easy customers, although he can see their point. Part of why I left academic medicine to go into this was because many products that are developed don't take into consideration physician work flow.