Following through on physician orders is another process that sounds easy, but is really fairly complex. Adding to the redundancy and compounding error occurrence, the unit secretary or nurse enters the doctor's orders into the computer. In some Paleolithic systems, information will be entered in pencil onto a Kardex. Clearly, healthcare boasts shining examples of advanced technology. Lasers reduce surgical procedures to short outpatient visits.
Sophisticated scanners reveal the early stages of disease and dysfunction hidden from our view.
Robot hands guided by television eyes give surgeons the ability to operate with precision in spaces too small for any human hand to reach. Perhaps, for clinicians and managers, just getting through each chaos-ridden day is enough of a challenge. Professional journals and Internet discussion boards amply document the experiences of the overworked, frazzled, error-prone clinician or manager, just trying to do the best darn job possible considering the unbearable circumstances. Maybe we need to spend more time looking at the ways other industries have employed technology in order to jumpstart our process revolution. Learning about their successes and identifying transferable processes and technology could advance our industry.