Further Update: K.Pablo has forwarded the link to a terrific article detailing the amazing technological strides the VA has made, the benefits of that kind of organization, and what it could mean for the rest of us. Thanks, K.Pablo. Link Here.
Thanks to the readers who commented on my earlier post on the lack of technology in our health care system located here. It now appears that steps are being taken, hospital by hospital, to implement new technologies intended to increase efficiency while also increasing the quality of the care provided.
Imablog notes:
Money is a big thing too. With budgets growing and funding shrinking, many hospital administrators tend to shy away from large capital outlays for new technology even when there are cost and patient safety benefits.
K.Pablo adds:
So, perhaps change is a-coming. I found the Business Week reference in K.Pablo’s comments, I think, and interested readers can find it here.
The technology you describe does exist. Rolling it out, however, is something that occurs in a piecemeal fashion in any individual hospital. The rate at which hospitals integrate, e.g., an automated pharmacy or an electronic medical record is usually corellated to how much of a hospital’s budget is set aside for capital purchases such as computer database administration/infrastructure, etc., which is in turn dependent on the profitability of the hospital.
So, for example, at Tampa General Hospital, where I am an attending physician, the first step twenty years or so ago was compiling billing and demographic information on all patients. Next, laboratory data was available at terminals scattered throughout the hospital. About 4 years ago, computerized order entry began to be integrated, and most recently (yesterday) they rolled out the electronic medical record implementation.
The James A. Haley Veterans Administration, also in Tampa, had taken many of these steps about 3 years ago. A recent Business Week article (sorry no link or further reference) details some of the technology roll-out and you would likely be surprised how closely your vision conforms to what is used daily at VA hospitals.