According to a speech at a recent conference, up to 98,000 deaths per year result from medical mismanagement in hospitals, and improved access to information could change that. "There's almost no way a single individual could put this [all the information required to care for a patient] together," but health depends on it.
It's not just a matter of throwing computers at these broken processes, but redesigning them from the ground up with technology in mind. Tools such as ethnography, allowing patients add information to their own records, and ways for doctors and nurses to access this information from anywhere in the hospital are just a few ways a well-designed process can improve the medical industry and save lives.
