New AHRQ-Funded Reports on Usability of EMRs

I'm excited!

I just browsed two new reports on EMR (EHR) Usability funded through AHRQ. They outline some high-priority research agenda and public policy items, and acknowledge the dearth of systematic evidence on EMR usability.

New AHRQ-Funded Reports on the Usability of Electronic Health Record (EHR) Systems

To explore the opportunity to improve EHR system usability, AHRQ commissioned the creation of two reports that synthesize the existing research and evidence in this area and suggest common methods to evaluate EHR usability going forward.

• Electronic Health Record Usability: Evaluation and Use Case Framework synthesizes the literature and best practices regarding the usability of EHRs, and it provides a set of use cases to evaluate information design in primary care IT systems.
• Electronic Health Record Usability: Interface Design Considerations provides recommended actions to support the development of an objective EHR usability evidence base and formative policies to systematically improve the usability of EHR systems.

For a full list of reports, tools, and other resources on the usability of health IT systems and applications, search the Knowledge Library.

One Buttock Playing - Inspiring Leadership

I encountered a friend who mentioned that his son is a composer in Washington DC.
I can't hear the word "composer" without thinking of Ben Zander.
He says "leadership is seeing the shining eyes in others."

Three points.

1. Look at this video player interface. It helps you find the right spot in the video. Chapter markers appear when you hover over the timeline. That's the pedestrian point I wanted to make.
2. Watch the video. Listen. Engage.
* http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html
3. Now, go read his book. Inspire others. You have it in you.
* http://benjaminzander.com/book/

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Jeff Belden MD | beldenj@health.missouri.edu | 573-489-4206 m
Geek Salad | Tossing Ideas Around
meeting every other Tuesday at 0700
at Kaldi's Coffee on 9th and Cherry
http://geeksalad.posterous.com
to unsubscribe, reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in subject line

Geek Salad meets again Tue Oct 24 at 7-8 AM at Kaldi's on 9th & Cherry

Relationships Make Things Happen
Sometimes, we give too much credit to timelines, processes, and personal drive.
I couldn't get squat done in my jobs if I didn't work with others I knew, trusted, and valued.

Take some time today to express gratitude to those on your team, in your family, or in other relationships.

A couple things helped me become aware again of this truth:

* Listening to an audio book "Three Cups of Tea" during a dozen hours of driving this weekend
* Old friends we met up with this weekend.

Read more, if you have another minute or two...

I'm typing this in the back seat of our car, in the driving rain, with Aretha Franklin belting out on the radio (some oldies station). No, I'm not driving.

I've been on a few days vacation visiting one of my wife's childhood buddies. We had a great time together.

He (Randy) worked for Bell Telephone Labs in Indianapolis designing phones (land-line phones, the kind you leased monthly from the phone company). They were durable as hell! He had a cool display of several phones they made, semi-exploded (the gentle way, to show the insides). They were made with serviceability in mind. Easy to replace ailing parts.

Bell Labs moved to New Jersey, and Randy valued his Indy roots. He stayed, founded an engineering firm that finished some Bell projects that would have died otherwise during the move.

Eventually, he moved on to Rolls Royce (right there in the corn fields of Indiana), managing/engineering controls for jet engines (like the fuel injectors at $35k each, sensors, computers, etc.). You'll fly more peacefully knowing there are duplicate/redundant systems, just like in the NASA space vehicles.

I did not get to see any jet engines, exploded or otherwise.

See you Tuesday AM, if you can make it.

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Jeff Belden MD | beldenj@health.missouri.edu | 573-489-4206 m
Geek Salad | Tossing Ideas Around
meeting every other Tuesday at 0700
at Kaldi's Coffee on 9th and Cherry
http://geeksalad.posterous.com
to unsubscribe, reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in subject line

Geek Salad meets Tue Oct 13 at 7-8 AM at Kaldi's on 9th & Cherry

Do you need to make a visual presentation?
See if your slides or visuals pass "The Glance Test".

http://blog.duarte.com/2009/10/stanford-passed-and-failed-the-glance-test-would-you/

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See you Tuesday AM.
I'll need to leave a little early.

Jeff Belden
Geek Salad | Tossing Ideas Around

Geek Salad meets on Tue Sep 29 at 7-8 AM at Kaldi's on 9th & Cherry

Your call is very important to us…

Like most humans I know, I hate hearing this.

Now, there is an effective cure!

 

Fonolo!

Nice business model, offering a web plug-in for businesses.

Individual user-customers still get free service.

 

See you Tuesday.

We appreciate your patience. The expected wait time is approximately …86 hours.

 

Geek Salad meets this Tue Sep 15 from 7-8 AM at Kaldi's on 9th & Cherry

Good Design Faster: “Sketch-Boards” and “Design Sprints”
I need to stop linking to podcasts, since most of us don’t have time to listen to one if it’s not already automatically going to our iPods.
I couldn’t resist. Here’s a link to the show notes:
http://bit.ly/spoolfast

I’ve started using Posterous.com for our Geek Salad blog postings.
It handles images better.

See you Tuesday.

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How can we explore a range of solutions before diving into a single solution? Wireframes are very useful to the process, but instead, we should consider delaying them. Before wireframes, Leah suggests a very open, cross-team exploratory stage. Invite people from across your organization and even collaborate with those who might not normally be within the core design group.

Leah suggests a week-long ‘design sprint’ that begins with a group brainstorming meeting in the morning with lots of people… and everyone’s opinions count. Then that afternoon, the group sketches out a large number of low-fidelity sketches further exploring the experience they’re looking to design, based on the morning’s activities. Sketching many iterations based on different perspectives like, ‘how would we optimize this for a first-time user?’ ‘how about for a power-user?’ ‘how about for this demographic?’

Then the week-long process continues...

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Jeff Belden MD | beldenj@health.missouri.edu | 573-489-4206 m
Geek Salad: Tossing Ideas Around
meeting every other Tuesday at 0700
at Kaldi's Coffee on 9th and Cherry
http://geeksalad.posterous.com

to unsubscribe, reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in subject line

Steve Mays showed us some online tool he likes/uses/recommends

Steve Mays posted some cool things he likes here:
http://smays.posterous.com/demo-for-geek-salad




Jeff Belden MD | beldenj@health.missouri.edu | 573-489-4206 m

Geek Salad: Tossing Ideas Around
meeting every other Tuesday at 0700
at Kaldi's Coffee on 9th and Cherry
http://mogeeksalad.blogspot.com

to unsubscribe, reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in subject line