Manual whiteboard system superior to computer technology:
In some cases, providers noted that computer systems hid some of the information; if only three comments could be viewed per screen, they had to click to get to another screen, requiring them to search for information that might demand immediate attention.The study also found that there were fewer visual cues with the computational system. Some providers noted that they used to be able to get a sense of the status of the emergency department just by walking through the room and visually checking the manual whiteboard. “Without that public display, providers have to sit down at the computer and check it, which can add time or reduce awareness,” said a principal investigator.These are potentially disastrous consequences in an ED environment where patients can be highly unstable and serious events transpire rapidly and irreversibly. An investigator in the study observed that "the results provide an important case study of what can happen when new technologies are developed without sufficient understanding by designers of the nature of the work in which they will be used."This last observation raises a more fundamental question: why does such an axiomatic, common-sense statement, especially in a domain as complex as medicine, need to even appear in print?
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