Explorations in the Design and Implementation of Clinical Information Systems
One of the most difficult aspects of creating clinical systems is rendering clinical concepts in a way that allows computers to reason with them. This is the central challenge in areas such as decision support, workflow management, and interoperability. Building smart EHRs requires computable concepts. Let’s consider a simple example using test orders. Version 1.0 [...]
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While there have been many books that I’ve enjoyed, only a few have truly resonated with me. Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, by E.O. Wilson, was one such book. Wilson states: Consilience is the key to unification. I preferred this word over “coherence” because its rarity has preserved its precision, whereas coherence has several possible [...]
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The hardest part of teaching clinical database design is helping students grasp the need for precision in naming and representing data elements. Newbie modelers often assume that everyone will understand their data-capture assumptions because–well, they’re obvious. Experience has shown that having students attempt to merge data from multiple sources works well as the proverbial picture [...]
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Technology has changed every major industry. Whenever the benefits of technology have become obvious, and comparatively easier to realize, resistance to adoption has quickly dissipated. Healthcare will be no different. Current EHR systems still have a long way to go before they become easy to implement and use. In fact, many of today’s systems were [...]
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Since 2002, I have taught an introductory informatics course in a master’s degree program for clinical research. The course consists of two components: 1) a two-day summer workshop that covers searching (MEDLINE and general internet) and software collaboration tools and 2) a fall semester course that surveys biomedical informatics topics selected for their utility to [...]
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Fortunately, my career has included a range of informatics-related experiences. Over the years, I have done everything from machine learning research to running a full-time consulting business. My fellowship only prepared me for some of this–the rest I had to learn on the fly. When faced with the challenge of learning something completely new, my [...]
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Welcome to EHR Science! I have been looking forward to launching this blog for about a year. My eagerness to start blogging is not due to an urgent need to share my opinions, but more so because I hope to connect with others who are drawn to the exciting challenges that have arisen at the [...]
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The EHR Science Blog presents the musings of Jerome H. Carter, MD, CEO of NTM Informatics, Inc. He is also the editor of Electronic Health Records, Second Edition, published by the American College of Physicians.
Posts on this blog are the personal views of Dr. Carter and do not reflect the official policies or positions of the American College of Physicians.