They are inefficient and just plain garbage!!!!!
Clicking on the wrong thing on a computer program is much more common then “poor handwriting” mistakes.
I think one of the great threats to our health care system, is that hospitals employee’s are not being trained to use a fall back paper system.
In 2012, a derecho hit our area and one local hospital had to close down because they didn’t have enough generator capacity to run their computers!
In 2016, Med-star Georgetown Hospital in DC ERMs were hacked and held for ransom. It was a mess. They didn’t train their personnel to use a paper fall back. Newbie docs were clueless when it came to writing out prescriptions!!!
We are way to dependent on something that is so fragile.
Typos and fat finger is one thing. Incompetent regulators is another.
Sub-agencies of HHS have 3 different sets of race codes. I am either Caucasian, or White or 1 depending on which agency you ask. My co-worker is either African-American or Black or 2. Native Americans, Native Hawaiins, Native Alaskans have so many code alternatives they could be anything.
The result is that when the data moves from one system to another system, the receiving system does not recognize the code and defaults to UNKNOWN.
So why collect the codes when 80% ends up as UNKNOWN?
Sex, Gender, Gender-self-identity is even worse. Nobody can agreed on the codes. New identities are being discovered all the time.
The wrong sex code could (including UNKNOWN) could trigger someone... as likely trigger the PC health worker as the patient.