By Jackie Roberson / Special to Healthcare Facilities Today

How many times have you stared at a computer screen and been frustrated by the information you were or weren’t able to pull up? How many times have you tried to perform a function that just wasn’t there? You blamed the software, didn’t you? But maybe the problem wasn’t the software at all.

There are a lot of healthcare software companies offering a range of products designed to make operations run smoothly for both medical staff and administration. The problems you run into are, more often than not, the result of choosing the wrong software for what you want to accomplish. And it’s sometimes not just what you’re using, but how you’re using it. Even the right software can be implemented incorrectly.

To start with, the digital age is all about connectivity. In the healthcare industry, the benefit is that doctors and other personnel can access and trade information with people in the same practice or hospital as well as with medical professionals in facilities across the street or across the globe. It means that records, test results, research, and opinions can be readily shared, thus providing the most timely and complete information for patient care.

It’s a dream come true, right? No longer do patients have to give their often complicated histories to every specialist they see, nor do they have to be subjected to multiple duplicate tests or keep voluminous medical files of their own — some in that renowned MD scrawl — for every new doctor to read. Digital systems are secure and efficient, saving time, money, and other valuable assets up and down the line.

So why do they go wrong? Here are some reasons why:

The IT Department does it alone

Healthcare software is about more than software. You can have the best system in the world but if it doesn’t work for the people who use it, it doesn’t work, period.

·       Start at the beginning. The first step is to determine what you want the software to accomplish. Technology can do pretty much anything you want it to, but you have to know what that is.

·       Every department should have input. Sure, it takes time and patience to hear everyone out, but ignoring what the technicians in radiology need, or the issues the pharmacy department is  concerned about means you could be omitting critical links in the overall system. Even in a smaller private practice, the front office may have requirements that the physicians aren’t even aware of.

·       Communication is key. Work often flows between departments, and, for better or worse, people in those departments have been managing their own means of communication. New methods need to take inter-departmental relations into account.

Databases are at odds with each other

A hospital, large private practice, or other facility can have multiple databases that need to be combined or adjusted to work in concert. Some may even have the same patient name listed in different ways, with or without a middle initial, for example. Thoughtful integration of data can be time-consuming and tedious, but the system will fail without it. As the maxim has it: garbage in, garbage out.

End users don’t get enough training

Hospital and medical practices are busy all day every day, and it’s often difficult for personnel to carve out the time for intensive training in new systems. Even if all you’re doing is upgrading an existing system, it’s well worth the time to make sure everyone gets sufficient training.

·       Don’t just drop it on them. Change can be hard, and particularly so if there’s no notice that it’s coming. Even when the change is for the better – and even in exciting ways -- people need a little time to get used to the idea that there are going to be adjustments in the way that they do things.

·       Don’t do it in bits and pieces. Have you ever been at a store check-out counter and had a new clerk been stymied because she hadn’t been trained yet in the transaction you wanted to make? Of course it’s not critical if all you’re trying to do is return a sweater. But putting the wrong medical information in the wrong place could have serious consequences.

If you’re interested in more information about why healthcare IT programs fail, read this article from physicianspractice.com