Introduction of an electronic medical record system into physician practice offices: why is it so #%!&-ing hard for...

U.S. physician offices are experiencing a revolutionary change in the microprocesses that have been the norm for documenting and communicating in regard to patient care for decades. While this revolution is welcome for dozens of reasons, migration of data storage from the paper-based record to electronic form affects physician work well beyond what is immediately evident. Creation and implementation of these new systems is a huge challenge to all involved, particularly physicians and information technology (IT) professionals. This article provides advice to make the implementation process easier for all. The findings of the authors over years of participation in electronic medical record implementations substantiate the position that these implementations need more preparatory work than most other IT projects.