NEW CONCEPT - history of HIT, why?

WHY IS THE HISTORY OF H.I.T. IMPORTANT?
By Barnaby T. Jara
Capitol Community College, H.I.T.

Health Information Technology is no different than any other human endeavor. Therefore
the reasons why its history is important are the same.

The history of H.I.T. is important because:

1-We learn from our mistakes: By learning how the implementation of systems went
wrong or by learning the resistance of physicians and other personnel to some aspects
of an EHR, we will avoid those errors in the future. One excellent book that deals with
this aspect is: H.I.T. or Miss: Lessons Learned from Health Information Technology
Implementations, by Jonatha Leviss, MD.—which is a “collection of case studies of HIT
implementations that didn't go as planned, offering expert insight into key obstacles that
must be overcome to leverage IT and modernize and transform healthcare.”

2-We share a common experience that binds us together: For example we all share
experiences of how paper prescriptions were issued in the past. How sometimes those
pieces of paper were lost from the doctor’s office to the pharmacy, and the good feelings
we got when we experienced our first ePrescription.

3-We learn about our roots and why we are where we are now. When we learn about how
patient care improved in facilities where EHR was implemented, we feel proud about our
profession. We feel we are contributing to the betterment of mankind.

4-We build upon past accomplishments. Quality improvement is based on analyzing
data, and data is another word for historical facts. Whether the facts occurred years ago,
or minutes ago, data is always a representation of the past. The analysis of these data on
EHR is used to improve the products of the future.

5-We speculate about the future. By studying the changes in technology and how it has
affected healthcare, we can predict how healthcare will be in years to come. For example,
we all remember the bulky data storage of the past, and how we have evolved to the very
small data storage of the present, such as EHRs on flashdrives, by the same token we can
speculate that the data storage of the future will be no wider than the diameter of a hair,
and we can envision the possibilities.

For these reasons, studying the history of H.I.T. will help us tremendously in designing,
implementing and maintaining good electronic health records, which would provide
better care for patients, keep us employed and made us feel proud of our contribution to
society.

Barnaby T. Jara
Hartford, January 13, 2001