Physicians and electronic health records: a statewide survey
1345 physicians responded to the survey (71.4% response rate), and 387 (28.8%) reported that their practice had adopted EHRs. More than 80% of physicians with EHRs reported having the ability to view laboratory reports (84.8%) and document visits electronically (84.0%), but considerably fewer reported being able to order laboratory tests electronically (46.8%) or transmit prescriptions to a pharmacy electronically (44.7%). Fewer than half of the physicians who had systems with clinical decision support, transmittal of electronic prescriptions, and radiology order entry actually used these functions most or all of the time.

Nursing Informatics: Taking Steps to Transform the Future of Healthcare
The keynote speaker will encourage you to see nursing informatics in action transforming healthcare in the everyday work arena. The conference will also feature an equally promising and supportive closing speaker in Dean Sittig. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to enjoy insights into informatics and building collaborative working relationships.

Wal-Mart sees medical clinic boom in retail stores
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is forecasting more than 6,600 in-store medical clinics will open their doors in the next five years. Wal-Mart is considering providing its in-store clinics with a common electronic medical records system so patient care can be tracked from store to store. (Ed. And you thought the big academic medical center was going to take away all your patients!)

Group Health co-op sending custom medical messages at birthday time
In a novel effort to prod patients into better health, Group Health Cooperative on Monday will begin sending most of its 527,000 members in Washington annual "outreach" letters around their big days, urging them to watch their blood pressure, curb their cholesterol, even get stool tests and mammograms. The letters will be based on information automatically culled from their electronic medical records.

Why Doesn't My Doctor Know This?
There has been significant concern by health care organizations and experts that physicians are failing to learn of new information presented in medical journals and lack the ability to translate that information into treatments for their patients. The concern is essentially that doctors erroneously rely on what they have previously been taught and don’t change treatment philosophies as new information becomes available.

Five Innovations Inducted to AIMBE Hall of Fame
The 2007 inductees are contact lenses, flow cytometry and cell sorters, cochlear implants and stimulators, pulse oximeters, and digital hearing aids. The technologies join 26 others that have already been inducted. (Ed. Why don't we have a Hall of Fame for Clinical Informatics? What would you vote for?