Computerisation : a panacea to problems of medical practice ?

• Ross KOPPEL
  Sociology professor, University of Pennsylvania
  

Summary

One is grateful to the new information and communication technologies (NICT) for overcoming the obstacles which confront medical practice. These include problems of correspondence between files and patients, lack of rigour in the administration of drugs, lack of prompt action, and so on. According to Ross Koppel, these technologies are designed to suit the marketing strategies of the computer industry rather than the needs of patients and healthcare professionals. In reality, they have resulted in new medical errors. Ross Koppel has witnessed striking examples in the research that he has conducted in American hospitals which have state-of-the-art computerised systems. Unfortunately, NICTs are relied on almost blindly which prevents their faults from being noticed and makes criticism difficult. Is it possible for the medical profession to learn from the experience accumulated over the past two or three decades by the industry in the management of the quality of technological processes ?

• The entire article was written by Loïc VIEILLARD-BARON.

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The entire article appears in French in the Journal de l'École de Paris du management N° 76.