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November 14, 2003

John Faughnan

Hey - John's got a weblog -- er -- three.

I missed John at AMIA this year.  His weblogs are great.  Hmm .. he's uing blogspot -- so no RSS.

Posted by Jacob Reider, MD at 02:55 AM |

Linux Medical News

Over at LMN: Live from the 2003 Fall AMIA Conference.  This is Ignacio's version of  the EHR session.  He types faster (and has better batteries) than I do.  Neither of us liked what we heard -- but for different reasons, it seems. 

I'm not bothered at all about the code.  Open source of the code that's behind the software is simply unnecessary.  Good software can be "closed source" and still be good.  The key is that our data be accessible.  With many EMR's the data is locked forever.  It's a real problem and dates back to the age of the dinosaurs. 

A key (and laudible) component of the AAFP project is that the data remain accessible.  

Posted by Jacob Reider, MD at 02:50 AM | | Comments (1)

Colace does nothing

So it seems that Docusate Sodium (Colace) does rather little. Despite this, it remains the mantra for post-partum care (with the partner FeSo4).  This isn't recent news.   I wonder why it's still used so much?

Nonetheless -- I suggest it frequently -- for problems at the other end.

Posted by Jacob Reider, MD at 02:28 AM |

Teflon Flu

Here's an interesting piece on the Teflon Flu. It's better known as metal fume fever and/or polymer fume fever in the medical literature. It is real .. but seems to be a problem only if you cook your frying pan instead of the food.

Posted by Jacob Reider, MD at 02:23 AM | | Comments (10)

AAFP EHR

An interesting letter from Rick Peters on the AAFP Open EHR from last April.  Much has changed since then.

Here's a pair (one  two) of press released from this week.

OK .. so we learned about who the vendors are:

  • A4 Health Systems - EMR
  • GE Medical Systems Information Technologies - EMR
  • HP -Hardware
  • MedPlexus - EMR
  • MedPlus, Inc - Interfaces
  • NextGen - EMR
  • Physician Micro Systems  - EMR
  • Siemens Medical Solutions - hosting, infrastructure
  • Welch Allyn -  instruments

Most of these are no surprise. 

I didn't anticipate Medplus or Welch Allyn.

 

A Definition of the "ACID" test - as I described a few days ago:

  • Affordability - Recognizing the limited capital available to family physicians in small medical practices, the AAFP's partnering firms will discount their prices and work with the AAFP to increase the volume of their sales for software and hardware.
  • Compatibility - Compatibility will be achieved through efforts to standardize connectivity interfaces between office-based systems, such as the EHR, and key information resources for electronic prescribing, laboratory result reporting and hospital information systems.
  • Interoperability - Interoperability standards, such as the Continuity of Care Record, will be jointly developed by the AAFP and partnering companies to permit seamless data exchange among physicians, other providers and patients.
  • Data stewardship - Data stewardship will become an increasingly important challenge as larger amounts of physician-generated health information are collected, stored and managed in systems and databases across the country. These data must be protected, kept secure and used only for ethical purposes that support the highest values of the medical profession.

... and a search of google for "AAFP EHR" brings up Family Medicine Notes in the top five.

Posted by Jacob Reider, MD at 01:47 AM |

Soarian

Press release: Siemens Soarian Goes Live at Largest Customer To Date. I wonder what "Goes Live" means. This software will be good, but it's not there yet.

Posted by Jacob Reider, MD at 01:28 AM |