[ianso]

Popping up here to mention OpenMRS, a healthy open-source EMR used by hundreds if not thousands of facilities across the world, mostly in Africa and Asia. An old version is packaged/integrated with some other apps into Bahmni, which is a full-blown hospital management system.

Honestly, people complain about software all the time and all software sucks to some extent, some more than others of course. Complaining about all EMR just because the USA bodged a national rollout in their uniquely messed up healthcare situation is a bit myopic.

[cmoose97]

I would not dismiss his complaints as broad brush IT disparagement. Despite the title, I think the author is referring to the EHR (Electronic Health Record), specifically of Epic which is unique in that it is essentially a "benevolent tech dictatorship" imposed upon 90% of hospitals through owner/lead programmer Judith Faulkner at Epic (no medical background) lured initially by federal incentives then married to it in perpetuity. That's not really anything like operating system software you can uninstall today (e.g. Microsoft, Linux, Apple). With the onerous hospital system transformation contracts and non-disclosure agreements - Epic exec customers are more like cult followers than standard software consumers.

[timlin]

> Judith Faulkner at Epic (no medical background)

I suppose that's technically true although wikipedia states that she cofounded Epic with a medical doctor and is married to a medical doctor. As a software developer, I rely on subject matter experts frequently. I'm not an expert in radiology, chemical engineering, or any of the other businesses that I support.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Faulkner

[yannis]

Very true, people complain about software, but my recent experience in a Gulf country, was stellar, all my medical records, were entered properly including procedures, it takes approximately 12 minutes to get medicine from the pharmacy and can view the records online. The patient interface could be improved a bit but did its job perfectly. The article was stellar, as it summarized the state of the art and the issues well.

[boxed]

I believe this article is only about this specific system. The problem is that the name of the system is "Electronic Medical Record", which makes the article sound like all such systems are hated.

[autarch]

I don't think that's the case. AFAIK there's no such system. The article specifically reference Epic, which is one of the biggest (_the_ biggest?) EHR software company in the US. My wife used it as a nurse and I've watched my own providers struggle with it. It sucks.

[benglish11]

EPIC is also used outside of the US too, there are famous botched implementations of it in Norway and Finland. It’s not just a USA problem

[hanche]

Indeed. The biggest hospital where I live (Trondheim, Norway) is still running at reduced capacity and over budget a year after moving to an Epic derivative. Doctors and nurses are burning out, many talking about moving elsewhere. Being recently retired, I am concerned that this may not be a safe place to grow old, if the hospital (by all accounts an excellent one) is dragged down by this horror of a system.

[namdnay]

Saying “it sucks” is like saying “SAP sucks”. Whatever system you get out of one of these projects is 99% dependent on the project team (on both sides), and 1% on the product base, which is invariably “meh”

[amarant]

If this is the case, the name of the system needs proper capitalization in the title.

[potatoman22]

All such systems are hated by most users. Source: I work in the industry.