The downside of fully connected hospitals

We have reported on several occasions, in multiple formats (articles, web seminars, guides), about the emergence and continued growth of cabling and other communications systems for healthcare facilities. Healthcare facilities, including hospitals, are becoming increasingly "connected" through the use of electronic health records, the need to send extremely large files across networks, etc. One consequence of such fully connected medical facilities is that caregivers - doctors and nurses - are carrying wireless devices with them everywhere, all the time.

Matt Richtel of The New York Times informs us that this situation may have some unintented, negative consequences for patients. In his article entitled "As Doctors Use More Devices, Potential for Distraction Grows," Richtel reports that "55 percent of technicians who monitor bypass machines acknowledged to researchers that they had talked on cellphones during heart surgery. Half said they texted while in surgery." Richtel also references incidents of "a neurosurgeon making personal calls during an operation," and "a nurse checking airfares during surgery."

The article even comes up with a name for the collection of portable devices that have the potential to distract medical providers - the "iPatient."

And I thought texting while driving was a significant offense.

You can read the complete article here.