Are hospitals ready for the IT onslaught?

Last night I was in the ER with my folks. My father, 86 years young, was having some shortness of breath. Since he had two angioplasties, he is extra cautious these days when something "doesn't feel quite right," as he puts it. There have been enough times when he was right so no need to take chances now.

While waiting for the test results, we ran out of chit chat about the Patriots (ugh), tennis, my children/their grandchildren (their favorite topic). We were into hour two, and I was bored. I happened to notice a computer in the room. Just for kicks, I clicked on the MSFT Explorer browser. The machine was completely open and I logged onto my Facebook page to show them what that was all about. Bad Davida. But am I the only bad one here?

The nurse came in and told me I should get off the machine. It was hospital property. She was right on that. She also said that there was sensitive information in the system. She was also right on that. I apologized, logged off and took my hand slap. I decided not to bother a busy ER nurse, who was treating my father, with a lecture on HIPAA security and how the hospital should add a layer of password protection for the machines in any of the rooms. I did see that the MedHost application was on the machine.It is great that the hospitals have computers. But have you ever seen a doctor or nurse use one of those machines in an ER room?

I have had my fair share of ER visits between kids and my parents, and not once have I seen a medical professional use a machine in the room vs. near a nurses' station or a private office.Information technology is all well and good, and it will probably be the key to moving healthcare into the black, but healthcare organizations must use IT wisely. And if IT will take an even greater role in healthcare, regulations, such as HIPAA, must be better enforced. Are hospitals ready for IT?