Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Sociotechnical Aspects: Clinicians and Technology
Lecture:Sociotechnical aspects of health care
Slide content:The Impact of Sociotechnical Change Improvement in quality and process improvement Improved process and outcome measures Improvement in efficiency Enhanced workflows Improved efficiencies of procedures dependent on technology Improvement in safety Reduction in errors 18
Slide notes:Sociotechnical change can lead to enhancements in quality measures and improvement in clinical and operational processes. Other improvements in outcome measures can be demonstrated as a consequence of successful sociotechnical change. These include improvements in efficiency and associated enhancement of workflow, processes, and procedures. For example, improving the technology of EHR systems allows better ways to capture information and document encounters. This allows clinicians to spend more time talking with patients as opposed to documenting the visit. New technologies improve efficiencies of processes. For example, installing a newer-generation CT scanner would lower the dose of radiation required to obtain a CT scan. Improvements in patient safety and an associated reduction in errors should follow. One example of error reduction is afforded by clinical decision support; for example, the availability of information embedded in the EHR helps the clinician make good decisions at the point of patient care delivery. Medication errors are also reduced as a consequence of successful sociotechnical change. For example, barcoding for medications and for patients can prevent mistakes in medication administration. 18