Christopher Parks was the guest blogger on “For the Record” by Dan Prince, President of Catalyst Healthcare Research. Read his entry “Healthcare Costs, Transparency and Feeling Vindicated.“

http://www.catalysthealthcareresearch.com/learning-center/for-the-record/2010/08/17/healthcare-costs-transparency-and-feeling-vindicated/

By: Kat Sanders (more info on the author below)

There was a time when you had to choose between engineering and medicine even though you were equally inclined to both. The situation has undergone a vast change today, and you have common ground between technology and medicine in the form of healthcare IT. Although it is a relatively fledgling field, it is beginning to become popular by the day even though there are still various hurdles that need to be crossed. If we’re gunning for the success of healthcare IT and EMR systems across the entire healthcare spectrum, we need to ensure that:

• The doctors are as much a part of it as the tech guys: When a system is designed, it goes without saying that the end user must be the most important person to be considered. It is their use and comfort that must be put above everything else. So a system must be designed to suit doctors’ needs rather than be the most sophisticated of its kind.

• The system is easy enough for even the older doctors to understand: The younger crowd of medicos is more tech-savvy and able to relate to the meeting point between technology and medicine and harness their iPods and iPhones to provide them with the information they need to treat their patients much more efficiently. It’s the older ones who are skeptical about the new-fangled technology and reluctant to use it. They must be targeted, trained and convinced if EMR systems and other IT innovations related to healthcare are to be a universal success.

• The doctors with more experience are roped in for their expertise: One way to involve the older doctors and specialists is to enlist their help in preparing knowledge bases that are then interpreted and translated into IT systems using the correct logic. They are there to give the tech personnel their expertise so that it can be used to provide accurate information when treating patients.

• The medical personnel are given enough training: A system is only as good as the person using it, so unless a doctor is given training in using the system, it could turn out to be a damp squib. There will be an initial resistance period, but with persistence, doctors who welcome positive changes are able to understand that this is the future of medicine and patient care.

• Any change is consensual and cooperative: And finally, any new changes or additions to the system must be made only with the consent and cooperation of the people who are using them. Only when there is a mutual understanding between the people who write the systems and those who use it will be possible for these healthcare IT systems to become a routine entity in every hospital and healthcare facility across the world.

This article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of surgical tech schools at her blog iScrub. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com

Schizophrenia affects as many as 1 in 100 Americans over their lifetime. Roughly two million Americans have this disorder, which is twice as common as HIV/AIDS or Alzheimer’s disease. Yet few other diseases are shrouded in quite as much misinformation, lack of information, and secrecy. Pervasive stigma keeps most people in the dark until the disorder hits home and becomes up-close-and-personal. Here are a few of the most common myths about schizophrenia:

Schizophrenia is the same as a split or multiple personality

Schizophrenia is NOT the same as multiple personality, which is an exceedingly rare, totally different disorder, now more commonly called dissociative identity disorder.

Schizophrenia is a defect of character

The negative symptoms of schizophrenia (for example, the inability to experience simple pleasure from people or things, lack of initiative or motivation, lack of or limited speech) give the mistaken impression that people with schizophrenia are just lazy and could act normally if they wanted to. This idea is no more realistic than suggesting that someone with epilepsy could prevent a seizure if he tried harder.

Poor parenting causes schizophrenia

For many years, people blamed families—especially mothers—for causing schizophrenia because they were either too permissive or too controlling. These theories have no credibility today. Scientific studies suggest that this no-fault brain disorder is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

There’s no hope for people diagnosed with schizophrenia

Because of new medications, psychosocial treatments, and consumer and family psychoeducation, schizophrenia is now considered highly treatable. The emergence of these new therapies has enabled doctors to treat the symptoms of most patients with schizophrenia, enabling them to live meaningful, productive lives in their communities. Improved mental health literacy and public awareness help improve treatment outcomes and lessen stigma and disability.

To learn more about schizophrenia, ask questions and/or order a copy of the newly released, easy-to-read book, go to Schizophrenia for Dummies (Wiley, 2008).

Authors Jerome Levine, MD and Irene S. Levine, PhD are both professors of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine.