Tapping the Unmet Potential of Health Information Technology

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times described the new phenomenon of hiring computer-savvy undergraduate “scribes” to take notes for physicians during patient encounters and enter the information into electronic health records (EHRs) — a practice that suggests how far we must go to develop EHRs that clinicians will embrace. Of course, the most highly trained professional in the room need not be the one to enter data into the computer, especially during an emergency, but the perceived need for scribes and providers' experiences using EHRs3 raise important questions about both the efficiency of care processes and the usability of current EHRs.