Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Health Care Processes and Decision Making
Lecture:The clinical process - overview of the classic paradigm
Gathering data and analyzing findings
Making a diagnosis
The impact of EHRs and technology on clinical decision-making
Slide content:Classic Paradigm Evolution of Tools That Support the Task Central theorem of health informatics human + computer > human alone Classic paradigm in health informatics One patient One problem One clinician One visit Technology supports this 1:1:1:1 paradigm 5
Slide notes:This classic paradigm is somewhat analogous to whats been called the central theorem [ theer -uhm ] of health informatics [in- fer - mat - iks ]. The central theorem was articulated by Chuck Friedman [ freed - muhn ], and his assumption in this theorem is that a human being working in the health care field will perform better when assisted by properly designed computer tools than when working alone. Most people working in biomedical informatics carry this assumption as the foundation of their work even when its unstated. Similarly, the classic paradigm is operative in many discussions, even when its unstated. The paradigm is often assumed not only during the clinical process, such as when making diagnostic or treatment decisions, but also during the interaction between clinicians and technologyfor example, the interaction between the physician and the EHR. Because a common scenario involves a single patient with a single problem being addressed by a single clinician during a single visit, technologies have been developed that support this one-to-one-to-one-to-one arrangement. This lecture also discusses health care configurations in which computer tools need to be designed to serve other purposes, but for now, the focus is on this classic concept of the patient-clinician relationship. 5