Emergency medicine can play a leadership role in enterprise-wide clinical information systems.
At many institutions, the department of emergency medicine is uniquely suited to a leadership role in the deployment of new clinical decision support systems (computer systems that support clinical practice). Many factors favor such a leadership role, including institutional politics, organizational structure, extent of local control, clinician solidarity, openness to change, departmental size and scale, and willingness to take risks. Such a role should be undertaken in partnership with the institution's information services (IS) department, and a clear understanding of goals and responsibilities will facilitate such a partnership. A leadership position with respect to new information systems entails a certain risk, but the potential benefit to an emergency department in today's competitive environment is substantial. The authors' experience with one such collaborative development project is presented.
Feied
C F
CF
Department of Emergency Medicine, Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC 20010, USA. cfeied@ncemi.org
Smith
M S
MS
Handler
J A
JA
Kanhouwa
M
M
D003201:Computers; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007857:Leadership; D012984:Software; D018511:Systems Integration