Seth Godin was on the mark in this blog ‘Done to us vs. things we do‘. There are changes that we withstand, that are beyond our control as Seth says, like Malaria, the atomic bomb, the McCarthy hearings, television’s ubiquity, the decay of the industrial base–these are mammoth changes, changes that came from all around us, changes we had to withstand.
Yet, thinking about today and all the changes in just a few short years from the inception of cellular phones to smart phones, from Internet to facebook and from Paper charts to EMR. No one forces us. We think we are forced but we choose to accept most of these.
Sure there are cultural pressures that indirectly force us to accept change because we want social acceptance but that is a different kind of pressure – not a gun held to hour heads.
EMR adoption is going from Carrot to Stick. Initially there was the incentive and now it is shifting to penalty. Most providers somehow think of it as a forced or thrust change rather than a welcome change to improve and get better.
SMD – Slow Me Down – Factor
The fundamental shift in thinking comes because we can’t accept change. The most common statement I hear as a resistance to this change is ‘it slows me down’. The problem is that ‘it’ does not slow you down, the attitude slows you down.
Instead of looking for EMR to help you overcome SMD, think about your current workflow (see my recent article on this here), method of working, and use of various available technologies within and outside of EMR to help you overcome SMD factor.
A good partner – vendor, reseller, or consultant will help you find what works for you and your way of working, your comfort level.
Change is never easy, but as the cliche goes, it is inevitable. In many ways, choice makes change ever more difficult, doesn’t it?
The future isn’t so much about absorbing or tolerating change, it’s about making change.
