The New Car Syndrome: How Our Desire for the Latest and Greatest Can Affect Hospital Networks

Our car just turned 5 years old and we’ve been considering getting a new one. Replacing a perfectly good piece of equipment with something new and shiny... and that got me thinking!!!

Do we need a NEW car?

Our thoughts are such that “the old one is a diesel”, so maybe we should go electric or hybrid. Thought-provoking ideas when we see the prices of these “good” alternatives. No more enthusiasm, because that meant either spending a lot of money or downsizing considerably!

Suddenly, we’re not so “SHINY NO MORE.”

Do we need a new car, NO!

Do we want a new car, why not?

We came up with reasons like:

• full warranty,
• less chance of breakdowns,
• more modern features,
• and even; it will look good in the driveway and at the neighbors

Finally, we decided not to buy a new car, as we had one this still worked just fine.

The new iPhone syndrome!

Oh, yes, we are human and as such, we often want more. But luckily, we also have working brains, and so we started making sense, an at first painful, but in the end useful decision!

Why am I talking about this as an introduction and not about health?

Because the hospital networks in Belgium are doing the same thing we are doing by looking at our car! They all want / need a new Electronic Patient Record system because they have to work more closely with others, and it would be so much easier if they all had the same....

WRONG!

Just like we (almost) got it wrong by replacing a car that was still in good shape because new and shiny is so much “better”, these hospitals are doing the same thing.

Are they wrong? NO, but YES!

This deserves some explanation.

Changing to new EPDs

If changing EPDs was as easy as changing cars, they might be right, except that they had to go out to tender to acquire the current product, commit to many years, train their staff and go through a serious implementation phase before they could start, and now they want to do it again with a number of other hospitals!

What’s more, who is going to write the selection criteria? And in doing so, are they going to consult with the IT departments or rather the physicians, or others?

Let me be even more naïve and ask the multi-million question (fissco), will the network members go for 1 epd SHARED between members or will they standardize while each keeping their own entity?

There are many questions and as many answers as there are hospitals.

Which brings me back to my new car analogy!

Is there a simpler, cheaper, faster, or even more direct way to do this?

YES, IT EXISTS!

BUT it is less sexy, less shiny and not nearly as “modern”, but most importantly, it requires doing what will inevitably have to be done but has not yet been understood by many.

Before sharing or adding data, the current state of the data needs to be assessed and, if necessary, corrected. Hospitals don’t have the manpower to do this, so the government is proposing an unorthodox method, called GDPR! One of the key clauses of the GDPR is that the data subject, in this case the patient, has the absolute right to know what information is available about them...

A good way to start cleaning up the data is to allow access to the person directly involved... the patient is the data!

And that brings me directly to the real issue!

Sharing data doesn’t necessarily mean that all that data has to reside in one place

This is the key to staying lean. Giving access to data doesn’t mean making it a single database, but knowing where it is, in what format and protocol it is provided,

To then make it easily, securely, and in an appropriate format visible. Anytime, anywhere.

This is what we call Unified Care Records and it would save millions per year, prevent errors and allow for proper planning of software and procedure changes while saving lives and suffering.

If I can convince my partner not to buy the new car, can’t we, the patients, healthcare workers and management, convince those working to make changes in the emergency room to slow down and think?

Next year, an even better version will certainly be available and I am not advocating waiting forever, but a little caution and planning might get us a long way.

What do you think of this idea? Do you think that a unified view and access could be the solution?

If not, what would be your solution?

I’d love to hear from you!

Jan