Dr. Matt Burton’s initiative to integrate technology and medical care
Friday, March 14th, 2008The lives of doctors, and the experiences of patients, may get a lot smoother thanks to technology pioneer Dr. Matt Burton. Dr. Burton’s new company Holutions, Inc. is working to integrate clinical data systems within hospitals and clinics to facilitate communication, training, and patient care for health care workers. Based in Indianapolis, Holutions is poised to make an impact on everything from patient records to medical school curricula.
Dr. Burton has a strong background in process engineering and product development, and at United Technologies he became interested in applying lean/kaizen activities beyond the manufacturing floor. His expertise in IT led him to create the first online course at the University of Michigan Medical School as he was earning his M.D. “I was always interested in academic medicine and surgery, and I came to realize how inefficient and ineffective some of their tools were.” He begun looking for solutions to these inefficiencies, which led him to Patientkeeper.
Patientkeeper, based in Newton, MA, is the leading provider of physician information systems. The company employs physicians like Burton to create systems that can be used across their daily clinical activities. “We offer the industry’s only suite of applications that support physicians throughout their entire day — enabling them to review electronic patient records…write prescriptions…enter charges…dictate notes…document encounters…place orders…even consult with other caregivers — wherever they are” (Patientkeeper website). Dr. Burton’s initiative takes the goals one step further, towards a seamless integration of computer technology and medical care.
Holutions aims to translate manufacturing processes like lean/kaizen into different settings. Dr. Burton describes a “half-art, half-science research approach,” and he works with everyone from industrial engineers, cognitive scientists, clinical staff, and even game designers to define and enhance clinical workflows. His company supported a team of graduate students at Indiana University in their quest to create a video game aimed at tweens which promotes wellness, nutrition, and exercise. The game, which would run on Nintendo’s Wii platform, won a national award for design, and could provide Holutions with models for other applications that can be used in a clinical context.
Dr. Burton aims to use gaming environments like the one developed at IU for clinical training and observation. Doctors and nurses could test new applications during their daily clinical activities to determine their usefulness and integration. Administrative hospital staff would also be involved in testing applications developed in game-like environments. The information gathered from these usability tests could then be used to facilitate communication between hospitals and IT systems vendors, who would provide medical facilities with the systems they need.
Dr. Burton attributes his success to his unique insight into the daily activities of busy hospitals and clinics. “The fundamental usability challenge [of clinical systems] is that designers don’t understand clinical workflow,” he laments. Holutions would fill this need by conducting the testing that IT vendors need to develop systems that meet the direct needs of hospital staff. Through more active and integrating testing, he believes hospitals can be convinced to use the same systems in their workflow that they use for everyday training. Nursing staff could use the same software that he uses to understand clinical workflow to train new staff to handle various scenarios. This would dramatically reduce inefficiencies within the systems and enable hospital staff to concentrate on patient care.
So what does Dr. Burton’s vision of integrated systems mean for patients, the ultimate end-users? He wants to see hospitals “track ‘patient flow’ the same way they track clinical workflow and assure their time is maximized too.” For example, radiology would be able to communicate with in-patient nurses to ensure that patients aren’t taken for X-rays when family and friends are visiting. Patients might be able to use an interface which allows them to order lunch or ask for assistance that would send their request directly to the nurse best able to help them. Every provider, from surgeons to nurses to family doctors, would have access to the same quality information, reducing medical mistakes and missing records. Burton’s company proposes a revolution that stands to benefit everyone in the health care industry, and his ability to synthesize technology and clinical practices is bound to spread to other industries and disciplines.
By Haley January Eckels
