The Big Bang as Implementation Strategy...
Technology may promise lowered costs, improved safety and streamlined operations, but it usually comes wrapped in new standardized workflows that upend well-worn clinician and administrator routines. That’s why healthcare organizations usually avoid moving too rapidly in implementing new systems; the so-called “big bang” approach—converting hundreds of users to new technology in one quick turnover—can be a recipe for disaster. Done correctly, rapid IT rollouts have transformed emergency departments, medical groups and entire hospitals, yielding both better care and improved financial performance. But it’s never easy. Here are six lessons learned by the IT risk takers who have made the leap and landed upright...

Healthgrades' Fourth Annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study
More than half (10 of 16) of the patient safety incident rates studied worsened from 2003 to 2005. These 10 indicators worsened, on average, by over 11.5 percent while the other 6 indicators improved, on average, by 8 percent.

Wal-Mart, University of Arkansas, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Create Health-IT Research Center
Wal-Mart on Wednesday joined up with the University of Arkansas and Blue Cross Blue Shield to create a new research center to investigate ways of improving health care delivery through IT. Wal-Mart is donating $1 million over five years to fund the new Center for Innovation in Health Care Logistics, which will be located at the university.

Digital doctoring
Why are new technologies resisted by the very professionals they are designed to help, and why is there such aversion to systems designed to improve care, reduce medical errors, and lower medical costs? A generation ago, doctors were taught that they were all-knowing healers whose judgment was sacrosanct. But today, there's simply too much to know. With the overwhelming advancement of innovative drugs and procedures, doctoring has moved from an individual endeavor to a team effort, and it is technology that binds the team together.

Ask Dr Wiki
Welcome to AskDrWiki.comwhere you can publish your clinical notes, pearls, EKGs, X-ray Images, and Coronary Angiograms and Venograms on our site. Using our wiki anyone with a medical background can contribute or edit medical articles. Our Main focus has been on Cardiology and Electrophysiology but if you would like to join our community and help us expand you can read over the Help Section to learn how to operate the wiki.

Most People Are "Privacy Pragmatists" Who, While Concerned about Privacy, Will Sometimes Trade It Off for Other Benefits
Replies to three questions show that:

Web-based proactive system to improve breast cancer screening: a randomized controlled trial
The screening rate for annual mammography was 64.3% for the intervention group and 55.3% for the control group (P <.001). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups for any of the other adult preventive services. For the employee subgroup, the screening rate was 57.5% for the control group, 68.1% for the US mail group, and 72.2% for the e-mail group (intervention vs control, P <.001; e-mail vs US mail; P = .24).